SOUTHERN ARKANSAS LADY MULERIDERS (4-7, 2-3 GAC)

HENDERSON STATE REDDIES (2-9, 0-5 GAC)

Saturday, January 3 | 2 P.M. W.T. Watson Center | Magnolia, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO SAU GAME NOTES | HSU GAME NOTES

 

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SETTING THE STAGE
The Southern Arkansas women's basketball team is set to return to Great American Conference action as they are playing host to Henderson State University on Saturday, January 3 at the W.T. Watson Center. The Lady Muleriders enter play with a 4-7 overall record and are 2-3 in the GAC. SAU is also coming off of a loss in their most recent action as they fell 73-50 to Stephen F. Austin in an exhibition game on New Year's Eve.

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SCOUTING HENDERSON STATE
ABOUT HSU:
The Henderson State women's basketball team enters play with a 2-9 overall record and a 0-5 mark in the Great American Conference. HSU has currently dropped their last five games with their last win coming on November 28 against Texas A&M-Kingsville. Statistically, the Reddies are averaging 61.4 points per game while shooting .340 (217-of-639) overall from the floor. The 61.4 ppg average ranks 10th in the GAC while their .340 shooting percentage is 11th. Only one Reddie with more than one game played is averaging double figures so far and that's Aungelique Sledge at 17.4 ppg. In all but three games this season, Sledge has been the Reddies' top scorer. Next in scoring is Haleigh Henson at 8.7ppg. Henson is currently leading the Reddies in three-pointers attempted (83) and three-pointers made (21), but her .253 sucess rate from deep ranks her sixth on the team.

Defensively, the Reddies are allowing their opponents to score an average of 76.2 points per game while also allowing a GAC-high .462 (323-of-699) shooting percentage overall from the floor. The -14.8 scoring margin to this point in the season for the Reddies ranks 11th in the GAC. In terms of rebounding, the Reddies rank seventh in
the GAC with 38.0 rebounds per game. 12.6 of those boards are currently coming off of the offensive glass as the Reddies rank 4th in that category. When it comes to steals and assists, the Reddies are currently ranked 11th in the GAC in both categories as they are averaging 6.0 steals per game and 8.3 assists per game as well.

COACH:
The Reddies are coached by Jill Thomas, who is in her second season at Henderson State. Last year, Thomas guided the Reddies to a 13-14 overall record and an aperance in the Great American Conference Tournament.Prior to coming to Henderson, Thomas was the head coach at Pfeiffer University for four years. While at Pfeiffer, Thomas amassed a 65-48 overall record. In her final season, Thomas went 25-7, was named the Coastal Carolinas Coach of the Year and led Pfeiffer to their first-ever NCAA Regional Tournament win.

LAST YEAR/LAST TIME OUT:
Last season, the Reddies and Lady Muleriders met twice with both games coming as part of Great American Conference play. In those two games, it was the home team that secured the win as the season-series was split. The first game was a January 21 meeting in Arkadelphia where the Reddies were able to overcome a career-high 34-point performance from Chanel Miller as HSU won a high-scoring affair, 98-87. The Mulerders got some revenge over the Reddies in Magnolia with a 62-54 win to close out
the regular season.

THE SERIES:
This is the 31st meeting between Southern Arkansas and Henderson State since the 1999-00 season. In that time, Henderson State holds a 20-10 advantage over SAU. The longest winning streak in that time was nine by Henderson State. The current streak in the series is one win in favor of SAU.
 

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ABOUT SOUTHERN ARKANSAS

Rainbolt Era: Year Two
Southern Arkansas head women's basketball coach Rusty Rainbolt is now in his second season and in his short time, Rainbolt has taken major strides towards building the Lady Muleriders into a top-tier team within the Great American Conference. Last year, in his first season, Rainbolt won 12 games and led the Lady Muleriders to their first conference tournament game since 2006-07. Those 12 wins surpassed the win total for the program over the past three years combined.

Stealing is a Good Thing
A continuing trend from last season is the fact that the Lady Muleriders are ranked in the upper echelon of the GAC and the NCAA in steals per game. Last season, the Lady Muleriders led the GAC and ranked 15th in DII in steals per game with 11.3. This season, the Lady Muleriders are first in the GAC and rank 20th in DII in steals per game at 12.1

Cause and Effect: Turnovers
As fans grew to expect last season, head coach Rusty Rainbolt will employ a hard-nosed, full-court press defense for much of a given game. As a result of that up-tempo and aggresive style
of defense, opponents have grown frustrated within their offenses and it has caused them to turn the ball over 247 times with 133 (54%) of those forced turnovers coming via the steal.

SAU's Threat from Deep: Earls
In SAU's exhibition game against Louisiana-Monroe on November 30, true freshman Carlee Earls sunk five 3-pointers for a team-high 15 points. While those numbers don't count towards her season total, the success from long range in the game has given Earls some confidence and she has began to establish herself as the Lady Muleriders' top threat from long range.
Entering play Earls is second on the team in made three-pointers with six and is third in three-point % at 35% (6-of-17)

Bryant Emerging as Scoring Threat
Junior newcomer Rosa Bryant has become one of SAU's top scoring threats this season as she is one of two Lady Muleriders currently averaging double figures in scoring (12.7 ppg). Eight times this season, Bryant has scored 10 or more points in a game with her season-high of 24 points coming against #18 Arkansas Tech.

Equal-Opportunity Scoring
In 11 games played this season, SAU's bench has outscored its opponent's bench eight times. In those games, the Lady Muleriders are 4-4. Additionally, the Lady Muleriders have grown to rely rather heavily on their bench scoring as currently 47% of their scoring is coming from their bench.

Substitutions Hockey Style
The Lady Muleriders are quickly becoming known for their style of subsitutions within a game. Most subs that take place for SAU see five players coming onto the court and five leaving the court. That unique style of subbing has resulted in 13 of the 17 active players logging more than 10 minutes per game. Additionally, eight players are averaging 15 or more minutes of playing time