SAU Women Suffer Tough Loss at Harding

By: Houston Taylor

SEARCY, Ark. – The Harding Lady Bisons rebounded from their only loss of the season to hand Southern Arkansas an 89-77 loss in Gulf South Conference action Thursday at Rhodes Field House.

Ranked 24th in last week’s national poll, Harding (13-1, 1-1 GSC) fell one spot out of the rankings in suffering their first loss of the season at Henderson State Saturday, while the Lady Muleriders (6-9, 0-2 GSC) are winless in league play along with falling at home to #22 Arkansas Tech on Saturday.

SAU made it tough on the Lady Bisons, backed by junior guard Goldie White’s 25 points and eight rebounds. After trailing by 19 points midway the first half, Southern Arkansas fought back to within three at 49-46 with 16:36 left in the game. Harding pushed it back to a 12-point margin at 10:46, but a three-pointer from White trimmed it to a nine-point game (66-57) at 10:32 and the Lady Muleriders kept it in single digits over the next seven minutes. The Lady Bisons were able to take control at 3:27 on Stacy Owens’ trey for an 83-71 edge and were up 15 points with 33 ticks left before another White three set the final margin.

The two teams traded jabs in the first half until Harding used a 16-1 run midway in building their 19-point advantage at 34-15. SAU managed to cut it to 47-35 at the break.

An 11-2 spree to start the second half pulled Southern Arkansas to within the 49-46 score.

White was 10 of 20 from the floor, including 3 of 6 treys, and hit both her free throws for her scoring. Coming into the game 11th on the all-time Lady Mulerider scoring list, the 25 points pushes her to ninth all-time with 1,163 points, just one point shy of Sharonda Davis’ (2002-06) 1,164 in eighth-place.

Both teams shot well for the game, the Lady Bisons hitting 32 of 63 for 50.8 percent and SAU getting 32 of 64 (50.0). Harding was 5 of 17 (29.4) from beyond the arc, while Southern Arkansas was 4 of 16 (25.0). The Lady Bisons made the free throw line count, getting 12 more attempts than the Lady Muleriders and going 20 of 23 (87.0), while SAU was 9 of 11 (81.8).

Turnovers were the key factor in the game with Harding forcing 16 from Southern Arkansas that they converted into 23 points. In contrast, the Lady Muleriders forced only eight, scoring just six points from them.

Freshman center Kmaria Hobbs aided White in scoring 20 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Senior guard Shanaye Davis added 11 points, and junior guard Lynzi Williams tossed out seven assists.

The Lady Bisons were led by Leah Fugett’s 22 points, while Owens recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

SAU returns home Saturday, hosting Henderson State in a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.