Box Score

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas women's basketball team battled back from a deficit as large as 20 points with a pair of significant second half runs, but the Southwestern Oklahoma Lady Bulldogs were able to weather the storm and hand the Lady Muleriders a 76-62 loss on Saturday afternoon in the W.T. Watson Center.
 
The Lady Muleriders' (2-2, 1-1 GAC) first run started at the 18:52 mark of the second half when Courtney Lindsey made good on a pair of free throws. Over the next 1:27, the Lady Muleriders would score seven more unanswered points to cut what was a 20-point deficit down to 11 points.
 
The Lady Bulldogs (4-2, 2-0 GAC) would withstand that burst and eventually grew their lead back out to as much as 16 points before the Lady Muleriders went on another run. This run, an 8-0 surge that lasted 1:17, brought the Lady Muleriders to within eight points and began at the 12:20 mark of the second half. Rebekah Knudson started the run by making one of two free throws and capped it with an old-fashioned three-point play with 11:11 remaining.
 
That eight-point deficit would be as close as the Lady Muleriders could make the game as from there, the Lady Bulldogs made 8-of-18 shots from the field, including three makes from long range as they maintained a double-digit lead until the final buzzer.
 
Statistically, neither team shot all that well, as the Lady Muleriders shot 32% for the game while the Lady Bulldogs shot 37%. The difference in the game appeared to come down to the amount of success from three-point land. For the game, SAU was just 3-of-15 from long range while the Lady Bulldogs made 10-of-38 tires.
 
The Lady Muleriders did hold an advantage in every specialty stat except for points off of turnovers (18-22). For the game, SAU had more points in the paint (32-30), more second chance points (18-7), more fast break points (6-0), and more bench points (46-38).
 
In terms of scoring, the Lady Muleriders had three players score in double figures with Chanel Miller leading the way with 19 points. Knudson and Aarika Reyna were the other two to reach double figures as each ended with 10 points. Miller also had nine rebounds to finish second on the team to Miranda Grier, who pulled down 10 boards. Knudson and Reyna led the team with three assists each and Knudson led with three steals as well.
 
The Lady Muleriders will next be in action on Wednesday, November 27 as they will travel to Kingsville, Texas to take on Texas A&M-Kingsville. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.