[January 17, 2008]

Contact: Houston Taylor

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Turnovers were a back-breaker for Southern Arkansas Thursday as Henderson State used the Lady Muleriders’ sloppy ball-handling to coast to a 77-59 victory at the Duke Wells Center.

Both teams combined for 48 turnovers in the game, but it was SAU’s 31 which proved more costly. The Lady Reddies turned those mistakes into 37 points, almost half their total point accumulation. Combined with a 46-18 scoring advantage inside, HSU was able to hand Southern Arkansas its sixth straight loss.

Although Henderson State held a 36-24 advantage at the half, it didn’t start out that easy. Southern Arkansas jumped out to a 5-0 margin on Goldie White’s jumper and Blair Jordan’s three-pointer, and held a 10-5 edge after four minutes of play. The Lady Muleriders had three turnovers up to that point, but it was three more in the next 1:30 that allowed the Lady Reddies to score six unanswered points and take their first lead at 11-10 at 14:24 and they would never trail again. HSU went on for a 33-21 advantage with 2:10 left before settling for that same margin at the break.

A lay-up from White pulled SAU to within 38-28 at 16:18 in the second frame, but that would be as close as it would get. Henderson State went on to a 21-point margin at 73-52 with three minutes remaining before taking the win by the same total.

The Lady Reddies (10-5, 1-1 GSC) shot 47.8 percent for the game by knocking down 33 of 69 shots, getting 18 more attempts than Southern Arkansas. The extra attempts made a difference as they were just 6 of 22 (27.3) on treys, and shot a woeful 5 of 14 (35.7) at the free throw line. The Lady Muleriders (4-10, 0-2 GSC) were 21 of 51 (41.2), 5 of 14 (35.7), and almost as bad at the charity stripe at 12 of 23 (52.2).

Surprisingly, the Lady Muleriders held a 42-36 rebound advantage, but gave most of them up. HSU wound up with 19 total steals off their visitors’ mistakes.

Henderson State used a balanced scoring attack as five players finished in double-figure points. Chanlee Bottoms and Danyelle Harris both finished with 13 points, Jazmine Ellis and Tiffany Smith had 11 each, and Candy Hall added 10. Hall finished with a double-double by pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds, and Bottoms had four steals and assists.

Jordan took game-high scoring honors with 14 points, while White chipped in 10 for SAU. White and Kayla Jones grabbed nine boards each, and White added four assists. The downside was that three players totaled five or more turnovers each, with White having nine.

Southern Arkansas doesn’t get much time for a break as they host a strong Arkansas Tech team Saturday. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. from the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.