MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Junior guard Anna Djedjemel dropped a season-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and Southern Arkansas (1-1, 1-0 GAC) used a pesky second half defense to turn away East Central (1-2, 0-1 GAC) 54-48 in Thursday night's Great American Conference opener inside the W.T. Watson Center.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 

• The Lady Muleriders led 16-12 after one quarter of play as Djedjemel contributed with nine points.
• Southern Arkansas' lead grew to eight early in the second quarter, before the Tigers engineered a late run before the intermission that saw them use a pair of Whitney Stotler free throws and a horn-beating three from Tia Williams that cut the ECU deficit to 22-21 after the first twenty minutes.
• ECU shot just 20% (6-for-30) in the first half, while the Lady Muleriders connected on eight baskets in 24 attempts (33.3%). SAU out-rebounded East Central 26-18 through the first two quarters.
• Through the first five and a half minutes of the third quarter, both teams traded buckets as ECU took their first two-possession lead of the game, 31-27, at the 3:16 mark of the third quarter on a three-pointer from junior guard Alexa Adair. Freshman forward Erin Brinkley answered with a bucket that brought SAU within a possession at 31-29, before Adair followed with another trifecta on the ensuing trip down the court to push the Tiger advantage to five, 34-29.
• The first of three huge three-pointers from senior guard Caroline Ficher came with 2:18 to play in the third quarter as she knocked down a three-point try to cut ECU's lead to 34-32. Junior forward Demi Read followed with a pair of free throws to tie the contest at 34 with under a minute remaining in the third quarter.
• The Tigers received a basket to close out the third and a quick three-pointer to push their lead back to five, before Ficher followed with another triple try to keep it a one-possession contest at 39-37 with 9:20 to play in the fourth quarter.
• Two points inside from freshman Kimberly Crown tied the game at 39 and Djedjemel took control of the next 80 seconds as she collected eight points to put SAU up 47-41 and in the process ignited the W.T. Watson faithful with 7:01 to play. The Castellanza, Italy natives eight point sequence developed in the form of a free throw, a trifecta, a paint bucket and a fast break layup.
• Adair and junior guard Mariah Meyer followed with three pointers over the next four minutes, while SAU benefitted from key buckets by Read and sophomore guard Jaida Harden, before Ficher's third second-half three, the dagger, put the Lady Muleriders up seven with 2:51 as SAU kept the Tigers at bay down the stretch to pick up their first win of the season.

 
FOR SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
 

• Djedjemel added seven rebounds, five assists and three steals to go along with her 19 points in 33 minutes of work.
• Crown added 11 points and finished a rebound shy of her first career double-double, while Ficher's 11 came courtesy of the aforementioned trio of trifectas, while adding four boards, two steals and a pair of assists.
• Read's night ended with 35 minutes of action and two points and a rebound shy of double-double effort. Senior guard Makaila Jordan added eight rebounds in 19 minutes off of the bench.
• Southern Arkansas scored eight of their 15 points off of turnovers in the fourth quarter as well as eight of their 24 paints points in the final ten minutes as well. The Lady Muleriders finished with a +14 margin in paint points.
• Southern Arkansas shot 46.2% (6-for-13) from beyond the arc for the game with Djedjemel and Ficher contributing a trio of threes each.

 
FOR THE OPPOSITION
 

• Adair led the Tiger offense with 12 points and added three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Classmate guard Devon Branch followed with nine points and four assists.
• Senior forward Jalyn Jackson and Meyer added eight points each and combined for nine rebounds led by Jackson's team-high total of six. Meyer produced a team-high three steals.
• Stotler added seven points and five rebounds.

 
OF NOTE
 

• Thursday night's win was the fourth straight for Southern Arkansas over East Central and evened the series at 6-6 since the 2011-12 season.
• SAU improves to 4-2 in Great American Conference openers now having won their last four in a row.
• The Lady Muleriders have now won five out of their last six regular season GAC games dating back to last season.

 
UP NEXT
 

• Southern Arkansas concludes the opening weekend of Great American Conference play with a 1 p.m. tip-off against Southeastern Oklahoma State inside the W.T. Watson Center on Saturday, November 19. The Savage Storm defeated Arkansas-Monticello 72-69 in the GAC opener for both teams on Thursday night.
• Live stats for the contest can be found here: http://www.sidearmstats.com/saumag/wbball/.
• Live video is also available and can be found here: http://livestream.com/accounts/10140781.
• Be sure to visit muleriderathletics.com for continuing coverage of Lady Mulerider Basketball including pre- and post-game updates, weekly notes, and the coach's show with Head Coach Julio Pacheco.