MAGNOLIA, Ark. –  Tierra Tucker scored 12 points and Rosa Bryant added a dozen as well as the Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider basketball team set a GAC record for fewest points allowed in a half (9) in their 58-38 rout of East Central on Thursday evening inside a Valentine's themed W.T. Watson Athletic Center.
 
The Lady Muleriders (6-16, 4-12 GAC) led 26-9 at the intermission; holding the Tigers to just nine points on 4-of-21 shooting (19%). ECU averaged almost 63 points a contest coming into Thursday night's matchup, but the Lady Mulerider press along with some cold shooting stoned the Tigers who fall to 10-5 in conference play, 14-7 overall.
 
Twelve seconds into the action, Brianna Sifford was successful on a jumper in the paint and three and half minutes later, Chanel Miller added a paint jumper to break a 2-2 tie. A handful of Lady Muleriders would find the scoring column in the first half as Tucker and Miller along with Allie Wade, Aarika Reyna and Cemetra Jenkins all scored on a 12-2 run to put SAU up 16-4 halfway through the opening half.
 
It wouldn't get any easier for the Tigers down the first half stretch as wholesale substitutions kept Southern Arkansas fresh and East Central off-balance offensively.
 
Bryant ended a four minute scoring drought for both teams with a bucket at the 2:55 mark. Sifford would score inside and the Tigers would make 1-of-2 free throws with thirty seconds left to give the Lady Muleriders a 17-point lead and the aforementioned conference record.
 
The Tigers would find some momentum coming out of the break as they used the first seven and a half minutes to cut their deficit to seven, 30-23 with 12:36 remaining in the game. A pair of paint buckets apiece by Sifford and Bryant would push the SAU lead back to 15, 38-23.
 
In the final ten minutes of play, Tucker took over offensively with aggressive play that kept momentum in favor of SAU. The junior scored inside and converted the following free throw to push the SAU lead to 17 with 6:57 to play and added another inside bucket less than two minutes later that put the Lady Muleriders at half-century mark, 50-32.
 
Two Sarai Rodriguez free throws would push the SAU lead to 24 with 2:10 to play and close out the scoring for the Lady Muleriders as they won their second straight home game; both against teams that have clinched a postseason berth.
 
Bryant was perfect from the floor on 5-of-5 shooting in a team-high 22 minutes of work. Sifford added eight points, Jenkins collected three steals and Wade picked up a team-leading six rebounds. Tucker's scoring came on 18 minutes off of the bench.
 
With four games remaining, the win keeps Southern Arkansas in the hunt for a berth in the conference tournament that begins March 5^th in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The Lady Muleriders will remain in Magnolia for a Saturday afternoon clash with Southwestern Oklahoma State beginning at 1 p.m.