Box Score

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The revamped Southern Arkansas women's basketball team, under the direction of first-year head coach Rusty Rainbolt, made their home debut on Wednesday night and the Lady Muleriders treated the crowd of 246 to a physical and up tempo style of play on both ends of the court en route to an 86-72 win over Rogers State.
 
The win brought numerous firsts to the program that has been given a jolt with the addition of Rainbolt at the helm. Chiefly, it was the Lady Muleriders' (1-1) first win since January 26, 2012 (a streak of 35 consecutive losses), and it was their first win at home since January 19, 2012 (a streak of 15 games). The win is also the first for Rainbolt as the head coach of the Lady Muleriders.
 
Early on in the game, it was evident that Rainbolt and the Lady Muleriders were going to feature an up tempo and aggressive style on defense and use that to generate scoring chances on the offensive end. It was also evident early on that it was going to be a team effort in the execution of that style as the first substitution two minutes into the game was a wholesale sub with five fresh players coming on to the court.
 
The mass subs would continue throughout the game and proved to be beneficial as 10 different players scored in the game and nine different players also forced turnovers with steals. Overall, the Lady Muleriders would force an outstanding 34 turnovers in the game, with 22 coming as steals.
 
That high-volume of forced turnovers did result in points for the Lady Muleriders as they totaled 32 points off of turnovers in the game.
 
The Lady Muleriders also gave themselves scoring chances as they rebounded the ball well coming down with a total of 50 rebounds for the game. 26 of those boards came on the offensive end and the Lady Muleriders were able to turn those into 20 second chance points.
 
SAU never trailed in the game and they held a lead as large as 20 points with 11:15 remaining in the second half before ending with a 14-point victory.
 
Five Lady Muleriders scored in double-figures with Rebekah Knudson leading the way with 18 points. Behind her was Allie Wade with 14 points. Chanel Miller was next with 12 points while Miranda Grier and Katherine McBride ended with 10 points each.
 
Grier posted her first double-double of the season as she pulled down a team-leading 11 rebounds. Wade was next in that category with eight rebounds.
 
McBride had the most steals on the team with five. Knudson was next with four. Grier and Wade followed with three each.
 
The Lady Muleriders will now get ready for their conference action of the season as they will play host to Northwestern Oklahoma on Thursday, November 21. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the W.T. Watson Center.