[February 22, 2007]

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas held on for an 86-82 win over visiting Harding Thursday at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center, and in doing so, clinched the third seed in the West Division for the Gulf South Conference post-season tournament.

The Lady Muleriders’ “triple threat” of true freshman guard Goldie White, senior center Kim Davis, and senior guard Brooke Grigsby combined for 72 points and 19 rebounds in the game. White tied for game-high scoring honors with 28 points, and had eight rebounds, Davis poured in 25 points and grabbed seven boards, and Grigsby chipped in 19 points and had four caroms.

Both teams stumbled through a sluggish first half before exploding for a combined 108 points in the second frame. The Lady Muleriders (12-13, 8-5 GSC) held a narrow 31-29 advantage at the break.

The Lady Bisons (17-9, 7-6 GSC) outscored SAU 7-4 at the beginning of the second stanza to take a 36-35 lead at 18:08, and after falling behind again, knotted it up at 38-38 for the sixth and final tie of the game at 17:33. Southern Arkansas took over from there, using a 17-7 run over the next four minutes for a 55-45 advantage on Grigsby’s jumper at 13:23. The Lady Muleriders pushed that to 15-point margins twice, the last at 6:49 on a Grigsby three-pointer, 74-59. But HU wouldn’t go quietly, outscoring SAU 20-9 to pull within four on Catherine McMenamy’s trey with under a minute left. McMenamy put 28 in the scoring column to share honors with White. After a lay-up from Davis, Kelsea Lyda’s bomb from downtown narrowed it to three for Harding, 85-82, with 28 ticks left, but a Lady Bison foul and one of two free throws from White with 5.7 seconds left sealed it for Southern Arkansas.

HU held a 5-0 lead at the beginning before the Lady Muleriders got on the board on Grigsby’s shot from beyond the arc at 17:13. Harding kept the lead for most of the first half and held eight-point margins twice, the last, 18-10, at 9:39. SAU used a 16-6 spree from there to knot it at 26, and then moved ahead for the rest of the half on Grigsby’s lay-up with 1:46 remaining.

Shooting was respectable in the first half with Southern Arkansas hitting on 44.4 percent and the Lady Bisons getting 43.5 percent, but both improved dramatically in the high-scoring second. The Lady Muleriders knocked down 20 of 31 (64.5 percent) to finish 32 of 58 (55.2), while HU canned 18 of 34 (52.9) in the final half to finish 28 of 57 (49.1). SAU had only eight three-point attempts and hit three (37.5), and Harding got nine of 21 (42.9). Southern Arkansas’ free throw shooting fell off a little, 19 of 29 (65.5), while the Lady Bisons converted 17 of 23 (73.9).

Other than the Lady Muleriders’ threesome, Cassandra Henry scored six, Kayla Jones had four, and Beth Grigsby and Stefanie White chipped in two each. Brooke Grigsby and Stephanie White each dished out four assists.

McMenamy had nine rebounds to go with her 28 points. Lyda contributed 13 points, Jacque Fredendall finished with 12 and 10 boards, and Kinsey Tucker dumped in 10 points and served up seven assists.

SAU will play its first game in the GSC tournament on Thursday, March 1 at 2:45 p.m. and will face the second seed from the East Division. As of now, that’s up in the air as four teams, West Alabama, Montevallo, West Florida, and North Alabama are tied for second in the sister division. That will be cleared up a little more on Saturday when all four teams play. Valdosta State has clinched the one seed by virtue of winning the East Division.

The Lady Muleriders have to take care of regular season business first, as they travel to Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game.