BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Four Lady Muleriders scored in double figures and Southern Arkansas battled inside against a tough Henderson State frontcourt as they collected 45 rebounds with 15 coming off of the offensive glass in an 80-71 win over the Reddies in the 2016 Great American Conference Tournament Quarterfinal Round on Friday night inside Bruin Fieldhouse.
 
The Lady Muleriders (19-8) set an NCAA Division II program record for wins in a season with their tourney opening victory, topping the previous best mark of 18 set in 2004-05. It is SAU's first postseason triumph in nine years when the program topped North Alabama 79-60 in the opening round of the 2007 Gulf South Conference Tournament and just the third postseason tournament win in the school's twenty-year membership in Division II.
 
Leading the offensive attack for Southern Arkansas was senior guard Tierra Tucker who dropped a team-high 21 points, while adding eight rebounds and a game-high eight assists as she flirted with a triple-double in 38 minutes of work. Senior forward and unanimous First-Team All-GAC selection Rosa Bryant recorded the twentieth double-double of her season in the first half, before finishing with a hefty 19 points and 17 rebounds. Classmate guard Shana Holmes logged her ninth 40-minute performance of the season as she scored a dozen points, while collecting four rebounds and a pair of assists. Caroline Ficher recorded her 14th double-figure scoring game for the Lady Muleriders as the junior guard produced 13 points, four assists and a game-high three steals. Freshman guard Jaida Harden and classmate Alyssa Hamilton provided a combined 45 huge minutes, while collecting a total of 13 points and ten rebounds as well as three steals, two assists and a block.
 
It was a three-point barrage in the first-half as each team knocked down five triple tries, but it was Southern Arkansas who shot 55.6% (5-of-9) from beyond the arc in the first two quarters compared to Henderson State's 31.3% (5-of-16) as the Lady Muleriders handed the Reddies just their fourth loss this season when connecting on more three-point attempts than their opponent. HSU finished the evening shooting 8-of-26 from downtown, while SAU converted just one three-pointer in three second-half tries finishing at 50% (6-of-12) from long range; the fifth time this season that they shot 50% from deep with a minimum of ten attempts.
 
Southern Arkansas jumped out to a 15-point advantage over the first seven minutes of the ballgame as they led 18-3 at the 2:57 mark of the first quarter and the Reddies would manage to cut their first quarter deficit to a dozen as the Lady Muleriders led 23-11 after the opening ten minutes of play. That early SAU lead proved to be critical as HSU outscored Southern Arkansas in the second and fourth quarters and matched them with 20 points in the third quarter.
 
HSU's Haleigh Henson knocked down one of her five trifectas to open the second quarter as a four-minute Reddie-run cut the lead down to four with 5:57 remaining in the half. Harden pushed the lead back to seven with a successful three-point basket and after an ensuing HSU layup, Tucker cashed in on an old-fashioned three-point play that put the lead at eight, before Holmes knocked down a three-pointer giving SAU an 11-point advantage with 3:30 to play in the first half.
 
Back and forth action saw Southern Arkansas carry that 11-point advantage into the intermission as the Lady Muleriders matched HSU step-for-step the entire night. Suppressing several Henderson State runs came in large part to protecting the basketball on the offensive end as SAU produced their second-lowest turnover total of the season with just eight giveaways; leading to only eight HSU points.
 
The Lady Muleriders never trailed in the their tournament opener and led for 38:23 in the game, while their largest lead of the night was 18 points as they led 52-34 at the 7:47 mark of the third quarter. A jumper just shy of the buzzer from HSU's Victoria Stewart brought the SAU lead back to 11, 65-54.
 
After a pair of free throws from Harden lifted Southern Arkansas' lead to 13 at 69-56 with 8:44 to play, Henson successfully converted a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to cut the deficit to just seven, while giving life to the Henderson State bench. Following a Lady Mulerider timeout, Harden nailed a jumper and then Tucker single-handedly closed the door on Henderson State as she accounted for SAU's last nine points; twice answering an HSU bucket with one of her own.
 
Defensively, the Lady Muleriders forced 14 HSU turnovers, collecting seven steals, while producing four blocks lead by senior forward Shunta Nevitt's pair. More impressively and most importantly, Southern Arkansas limited HSU forward Dulincia Keener's success down low allowing the senior and top-ten all-time scorer in GAC history to just nine points. Henderson State shot 42.1% from the floor for the game, while SAU converted at a clip of 44.3%; including a 51.4% mark (18-of-35) in the first half.
 
The aforementioned battle inside saw the Lady Muleriders edged out the Reddies in paint points, 36-30, and also outrebounded HSU 45-36. The Reddies controlled SAU's transition offense allowing just eight points, but Southern Arkansas outscored Henderson State 24-8 in points off of turnovers and 15-3 in second-chance points.
 
The postseason ride continues for the Lady Muleriders as they prepare for a semifinal showdown with top-seeded Arkansas Tech (24-3) in the 8 p.m. primetime spot on Saturday night inside Bruin Fieldhouse. All coverage links from Bartlesville for the remainder of the tournament including SAU's third meeting with the Golden Suns can be located here: http://greatamericanconference.com/sports/2016/2/8/2016-GAC-BKB-CHAMPIONSHIPS.aspx. Arkansas Tech took both regular season meetings with Southern Arkansas and advanced to the tournament semifinals with a 60-58 win over Arkansas-Monticello.

Be sure to visit muleriderathletics.com for continuing postseason coverage of Lady Mulerider basketball including pregame and postgame updates and the coach's show with head coach Julio Pacheco.