BEAUMONT — DeA’ngela Mathis and Chastadie Barrs sat on the postgame interview podium at Lamar visibly ill following the Cardinals’ 100-77 win over New Orleans on Wednesday.

They weren’t the only Cardinals battling flu-like symptoms. Coach Robin Harmony said three to four of her players were ill.

“We’re taking turns at who’s getting sick, and as somebody gets better, someone else picks in,” Harmony joked, although with a straight face.

The prize for winning Wednesday is setting up a battle of first-place teams in the Southland Conference at Central Arkansas (10-4, 3-0 Southland). Abilene Christian (9-4, 3-0) and Stephen F. Austin (10-3, 2-0) also are unbeaten in the Southland.

The caveat was traveling on a bus with the sickness bug still striking Lamar (8-5, 3-0).

The Cardinals left Beaumont on Thursday to make the 9-hour voyage to Conway, just a 30-minute drive north of Little Rock. Tipoff Saturday is at 1 p.m.

“We’re all on a bus and we’ll be in a confined space,” Harmony said Wednesday, “so that allows more people to catch it. It’s happening all over the place. It’s not just our team. I’m sure every team is going through the same thing.”

The good news for both the Cardinals and Sugar Bears is that they’re not playing sick.

Central Arkansas, the two-time defending Southland tournament champion, has been riding the play of senior center Kierra Jordan and senior forward Taylor Baudoin. Jordan earned the Southland women’s player of the week honor after averaging 15.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in the Bears’ first two conference games, but she was held to 10 points (to go with 11 rebounds) in Wednesday’s win over Sam Houston State. Baudoin, who won the weekly honor twice this season, had 13 points and nine rebounds, while freshman forward Mekaylan Hicks registered 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Lamar, whose 17.2 steals per game leads NCAA Division I, is getting a huge defensive test three days after Harmony expressed disappointment in New Orleans’ scoring 77 points against her club.

“We were getting steals in the open court, but when we got to the quarter-court, we allowed them to do pretty much what they wanted,” Harmony said.

The Cards’ offense, which leads the Southland at 82.3 points per game, made up for the mistakes in the Privateers’ frontcourt.

“We hang our hat on defense, so when we play good defense, we play good offense,” said Barrs, the nation’s individual leader in steals at 6.54 per game. She had eight against New Orleans and needs nine to match the Southland record of 359 by Nina Randle of Louisiana-Monroe.

Lamar’s men’s team hosts Central Arkansas at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews