SOUTHERN ARKANSAS LADY MULERIDERS (4-11, 2-7 GAC)

ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO COTTON BLOSSOMS (7-7, 5-4 GAC)

Thursday, January 21 | 5:30 P.M. Steeleman Field House | Monticello, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO SAU GAME NOTES | UAM GAME NOTES

 

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SETTING THE STAGE
The Southern Arkansas women's basketball team is set to travel to Monticello to take on their South Arkansas rival Arkansas-Monticello at the Steelman Field House. The Lady Muleriders will also be looking to rejoin the win column and continue their push towards a berth into the upcoming Great American Conference Tournament.

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SCOUTING ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO
The Arkansas-Monticello women's basketball team enters play with a 7-7 overall record and are 5-4 in the GAC. The Cotton Blossoms are also coming into tonight's game on a two-game winning streak as they went a perfect 2-0 last week with wins over Northwestern Oklahoma and Southwestern Oklahoma. Statistically, the Cotton Blossoms are averaging 64.7 points per game and are shooting 41% (316-of-778) overall from the floor. Their scoring per game ranks in seventh in the GAC while their shooting percentage
ranks 4th in the league. Currently two Cotton Blossoms are averaging double figures in scoring with Jordan Goforth leading the way at 19.3 ppg. Goforth's points per game also rank third individually in the GAC. The other Cotton Blossom in double figures is Nikki Mullen at 11.2 ppg.

As a team, the Cotton Blossoms rank 2nd in the GAC in shooting from beyond the arc at 37% (82-of-221) and rank 5th in the league at the free throw line at 73% (192-of-265).

Defensively, the Cotton Blossoms are allowing their opponents to score an average of 62.6 points per game while also allowing a 40% (316-of-778) success rate from the floor. Their opponents' points per game average ranks 4th in the GAC and their +2.1 scoring margin ranks 5th.

In terms of rebounding, the Cotton Blossoms rank 9th in the GAC with 35.5 boards per game. On the other end of the court, the Cotton Blossoms are allowing 36.2 boards per game and their -0.7 rebounding margin ranks 7th in the GAC.

As far as steals and assists, the Cotton Blossoms rank 4th and 10th in the respective categories. On the year, UAM is averaging 8.9 steals per game while averaging 10.9 assists.

COACH
The Cotton Blossoms are coached by Tanya Ray, who is in her fourth season at UAM. In her previous three seasons, Ray has led the Cotton Blossoms to a 25-55 overall record. This season, Ray has the Cotton Blossoms at .500 with a 7-7 overall record and over the .500 mark in conference play at 5-4 in the GAC.

LAST YEAR/LAST TIME OUT
Last year, the Lady Muleriders and Cotton Blossoms met twice with both games coming in Great American Conference play. In those two games, both teams would defend their home court with SAU picking up a 79-55 win at home early in the year and then UAM collected a 63-44 win at home near the end of the season.

THE SERIES
This is the 32nd meeting since the 1999-00 season between Southern Arkansas and Arkansas-Monticello. During this recent stretch, UAM holds a slim lead in the
overall series at 17-14 and also holds a three-game edge when the games are played in Monticello.

ON TAP
The Lady Muleriders remain on the road as they go against their GAC foes for a second time this year. First up on the rewind tour is Ouachita Baptist. In their first meeting this season, SAU defeated OBU 69-67 inside the W.T. Watson Center.
 

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SCOUTING 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 second in the GAC and rank 25th in DII in steals per game at 11.2

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 308 times with 168 (55%) of those forced turnovers coming via the steal.

Bryant GAC Player of the Week
Southern Arkansas junior forward Rosa Bryant was named the GAC Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the week-ending January 4, 2014. Bryant, a native of Bastrop, La., earned the weekly conference honor after a highly-efficient shooting performance against Henderson State. In that game, Bryant would go 10-of-11 from the floor (.909) on her way to scoring a team-high 21 points in the game. Her field goal% for that game was the highest in a game (min. 10 FG made) since the 2006-07 season when Kim Davis went 11-of-13 vs. UAM.

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 (13.0 ppg). 10 times this season, Bryant has scored 10 or more points in a game and she has scored 20 or more in four of her last seven games, including a
season-high 24 against #18 Arkansas Tech. 

Equal-Opportunity Scoring
In 15 games played this season, SAU's bench has outscored its opponent's bench 10 times. In those games, the Lady Muleriders are 4-6. 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.

Chanel No. 3
Chanel Miller returns to the Lady Mulerider basketball team for her senior season after the Waxachachie, Texas turned in a sensational junior campaign at SAU in which she was honored as the GAC's Newcomer of the Year. Last season, Miller lead the team in scoring at 15.3 ppg and shot at a 44% clip overall from the floor (149-of-336), 22% from beyond the arc (4-of-18), and 76% from the free throw line (96-of-127). This season, Miller is once again one of the team's top scorers as she is averaging 12.5 ppg. Additionally, Miller is among the most efficient overall scorers in the GAC as she is shooting 50% overall from the floor (54-of-108), 35% from long range (8-of-23), and 87% from the charity stripe (34-of-39).

Right There
While the Lady Muleriders have lost 11 games to this point in the season, that is not to say that they haven't been in a position to win most of those games. Out of the 11 losses, the margin of defeat has been six points or fewer seven times.