MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas women's basketball team led by as many as 20 points midway through the first half, but a relentless comeback effort by Henderson State the rest of the way out ultimately led Henderson to upend SAU by a score of 83-78 on Saturday afternoon inside the W.T. Watson Center.
The Lady Muleriders (4-8, 2-4 GAC) were able to sprint out to such a large lead over the first 10 minutes of the game thanks, in part, to their up-tempo, full-court press style of defense and highly efficient shooting from the floor on the offensive end. During that opening 10 minutes of play, the Reddies (3-9, 1-5 GAC) were shooting just 19% from the floor as they were 3-of-19. Conversely, the Lady Muleriders were very efficient on offense in that stretch as they shot 65% from the floor, making 13-of-19.
Over the remainder of the first half, the Lady Muleriders would maintain a double-digit lead and carried a 12-point advantage into the locker room, 42-30.
Coming out of the break, however, is when the Reddies would make their move and methodically began to chip away at the Lady Mulerider lead. With 14:16 left in the game, Henderson brought the game to within a single point, 51-50. Despite seeing their lead shrink to one point, the Lady Muleriders would stave off the Reddies for another four minutes until Henderson gained their first lead since the first half at the 10:10 mark of the second half.
That Henderson State lead was short-lived, however, as 1:45 later;
Tierra Tucker put the Lady Muleriders back on top as she buried a three-pointer. About a minute later, with 7:20 left to play, the Lady Muleriders took a six-point lead behind a
Carlee Earls trifecta. The Lady Muleriders would be unable to extend that lead any more, but maintained an advantage over the next 3:46 of the game.
With 3:47 left, Henderson's Dulincia Keener made good on a layup to give the Reddies a one-point lead, 72-71. Over the next 3:28, the lead would change hands an incredible six times with neither team holding a lead larger than two points during that stretch. The last of those lead changes would go in favor of Henderson and proved to be the final time the lead would change hands as well as the Lady Muleriders would miss their final four shot attempts (two from long range) while Henderson added three free throws to seal the game.
Statistically, the Lady Muleriders would end the game shooting 47% overall from the floor (29-of-62) and three players would score in double figures with
Rosa Bryant leading the way with 21 points on an ultra-efficient 10-of-11 shooting from the floor. Next in scoring was Tucker with 15 and
Shabr'an Richardson chipped in a season-high 11 points.
The Lady Muleriders will now prepare for their first Oklahoma swing of the season next week as they will travel to Ada, Okla. to take on East Central on Thursday night and then to Weatherford, Okla. to take on Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off for the game at East Central is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. while the tip-off at Southwestern Oklahoma is set for 1 p.m.
