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GAME NOTES | SAU | HU

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Tipping Off
The Southern Arkansas women's basketball is set to kick-off their week-long, three-game home stand tonight with a top-tier Great American Conference clash with Harding.
Both SAU and Harding come into the game in a tie for second-place within the GAC at 7-3 in league play.

This will be the first meeting between the two teams this season after they met three times a year ago including in the opening round of the GAC Tournament which was an
80-48 win for the Lady Bisons.

The Lady Muleriders will be looking to turn their fortunes around against the Lady Bisons starting tonight as they are winless against Harding in their last 12 games played. In that, the last win for the Lady Muleriders against Harding came in the 2009-10 season when SAU edged the Lady Bisons by a point, 59-58 at home.
 

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LADY MULERIDER NEWS AND NOTES
The Southern Arkansas women's basketball team enters play on Monday with a 11-3 overall record and a 7-3 mark in the Great American Conference. The Lady Muleriders will also enter play riding a two-game winning streak as they picked up road wins at Arkansas- Monticello and Ouachita last week.

On the season, the Lady Muleriders are averaging 77.7 points per game while allowing their opponents to score an average of 69.9 points per game for a scoring margin of +7.8. Their points per game average ranks third in the GAC, while their scoring defense ranks eighth and their scoring margin ranks second within the league.

As a team, the Lady Muleriders are shooting .470 (428-of-911) overall from the floor which includes a shooting mark of .339 (59-of-174) from long range. From the free throw line, the Lady Muleriders are shooting .653 (173-of-265). Their overall field goal percentage ranks second in the GAC while their 3-point field goal percentage ranks fourth. At the charity stripe the Lady Muleriders' percentage ranks 11th.

In terms of individual production, the Lady Muleriders have two players averaging double figures with Rosa Bryant leading the way at 21.2 points per game. Bryant's scoring average currently ranks second in the GAC and eighth in DII. The other player averaging double figures is Shana Holmes at 13.7 ppg. Bryant is also the team's leading rebounder at 12.0 rebounds per game. Additionally, Bryant's rebounding average currently ranks eighth in DII.

Defensively, the Lady Muleriders have forced 247 turnovers with 122 of those being steals. Additionally, the Lady Muleriders are allowing their opponents to shoot at a clip of .386 (332-of-859) overall from the floor and .319 (94-of-295) from beyond the arc.

COACH
The Lady Muleriders are coached by Julio Pacheco, who is in his first season at Southern Arkansas. Prior to becoming the head coach at SAU, Pacheco spent seven seasons as the assistant coach at Arkansas Tech where he helped guide the Golden Suns to the NCAA Tournament four times, advancing as far as the Elite Eight twice. Also while at Tech, Pacheco helped the Golden Suns capture four regular season championships and three conference tournament championships.
 

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SCOUTING HARDING
The Harding women's basketball team enters play on Monday with a 9-5 overall record and a 7-3 mark in the Great American Conference. The Lady Bisons have lost their last two games, an 80-52 road loss at Arkansas Tech and a 66-62 home loss to Henderson State.

On the season, the Lady Bisons are averaging 69.1 points per game while allowing their opponents to score an average of 62.1 points per game for a scoring margin of +7.1. Their points per game average ranks sixth in the GAC, while their scoring defense ranks second and their scoring margin ranks fourth within the league.

As a team, the Lady Bisons are shooting .388 (320-of-825) overall from the floor which includes a shooting mark of .336 (113-of-336) from long range. From the free throw line, the Lady Bisons are shooting .721 (215-of-298). Their overall field goal percentage ranks eighth in the GAC while their 3-point field goal percentage ranks fifth. At the charity stripe the Lady Bisons' percentage ranks fourth.

In terms of individual production, the Lady Bisons have three players averaging double figures with Sydney Layrock leading the way at 17.1 points per game. Layrock's points per game currently rank her sixth in the GAC. Behind Layrock is A'ndrea Haney at 12.9 ppg. Lundon Williams rounds out double-figure scoring at 10.0 ppg to rank third on the team.

Defensively, the Lady Bisons have forced 213 turnovers with 120 of those being steals. Additionally, the Lady Bisons are allowing their opponents to shoot at a clip of .376 (302-of-804) overall from the floor and .308 (94-of-305) from beyond the arc.

COACH
The Lady Bisons are coached by Tim Kirby, who is in his 11th year at Harding. In his previous 10 seasons, Kirby has amassed a 193-97 overall record. Earlier this season, Kirby won his 200th game overall and at Harding as his Lady Bisons beat Southeastern Oklahoma 103-95 in overtime. Three times, Kirby has led the Lady Bisons to 20 or more wins and he has advanced Harding to the NCAA Tournament each of the last two years.
 

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THE SERIES
This is will be the 34th meeting since the start of the 1999-2000 season between the Lady Muleriders and the Lady Bisons. In that time, the Lady Bisons hold a 23-7 advantage over SAU, which includes a streak of the last 12 games in favor of Harding.

ON TAP
The Lady Muleriders will play the second of their three-game home stand on Thursday night against East Central. This will mark the beginning of the second half of the GAC slate. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.