SEARCY, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider basketball team was looking to pick up where they left off in Thursday night's upset of No. 20 Arkansas Tech, but was unable to pull off consecutive wins against top 25 opponents as No. 16 Harding shot over 55%, including 50% (6-of-12) from beyond the arc in the first half of the Lady Bisons' 72-61 win over SAU inside Rhodes Field House on Saturday evening.
 
The Lady Muleriders (5-14, 3-10 GAC) jumped out to a 9-3 lead over the GAC-leading Lady Bisons (16-3, 12-1 GAC), but Harding used multiple runs to build a 20-point halftime lead as A'ndrea Haney dropped 14 points while Montana Lewis scored nine first half points on her way to a double-double.
 
Cemetra Jenkins scored two early baskets and Rosa Bryant added three points in the first five minutes to aid the upset-minded Lady Muleriders' early six-point advantage. Harding used the three-ball well in the first half as they knocked down six treys with their first coming at the 11:10 mark to give the Lady Bisons a 12-11 lead, a lead they would not surrender.
 
Back-to-back layups by Bryant under the six minute mark kept the Harding advantage at nine, 26-17. But the Lady Bisons answered with consecutive three-pointers to push their lead to 15, 32-17 with 4:34 remaining in the first half. The Lady Bisons used a 10-5 run to close out the half as they took a 42-22 lead into intermission.
 
Southern Arkansas would refuse to roll over in the final twenty minutes as they answered Harding shot for shot in the first five and a half minutes of the second half as Jenkins knocked down a three-pointer to pull SAU under 20, 52-33.
 
An Aarika Reyna three-pointer at the 10:11 mark of the second half brought SAU to within 18, 58-40. Allie Wade scored inside and 50 seconds later, Brianna Sifford hit a three-pointer to cut Harding's lead to 15, 60-45.
 
With just over six and a half minutes remaining, Tierra Tucker scored on a basket inside and converted the free throw attempt for the old-fashioned three-point play to pull Southern Arkansas to within striking distance, 60-48. Three Harding free throws on three different shot attempts pushed the Lady Bisons back out to a 15 point advantage, but Wade scored with a layup and Bryant followed suit to cut the HU lead to 11, 63-52, with just under three minutes to play.
 
A big three-pointer by Harding with 1:39 left in the contest put the game out of reach for SAU, but Sifford followed with a three-point bucket and Bryant scored down low to make it a nine point game with 12 seconds left.
 
Bryant led Southern Arkansas with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and Jenkins added 14 points. Sifford was perfect on both of her triple tries as she finished with eight points, while Miranda Grier collected seven rebounds.
 
The Lady Muleriders head back to Oklahoma for a two-game road trip against Southeastern Oklahoma St. on Thursday, February 5^th at 5:30 p.m. before traveling to Bethany, Oklahoma, for a 1 p.m. clash with Southern Nazarene on Saturday, February 7^th.