WEATHERFORD, Okla. – A fourth quarter surge by Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon proved to be the difference in a game that featured seven tied scores and 10 lead changes as the Lady Bulldogs sank the Lady Muleriders, who led 43-41 entering the final frame, 71-61 in Great American Conference action inside Rankin-Williams Fieldhouse.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 

• Southwestern Oklahoma (5-2, 3-1 GAC) took advantage of 11 first half turnovers by the Lady Muleriders (1-5, 1-3 GAC), outscoring SAU in points off of turnovers 17-1 in the opening half and 34-4 in the category through four quarters.
• Southern Arkansas trailed 16-9 after the first ten minutes of play, but put together a productive second quarter winning the battle inside 10-2 as they outscored SWOSU 17-8 to take a 26-24 halftime lead. The Lady Muleriders engineered a 13-5 run over seven and a half minutes to take their first lead of the game, 22-21, at the 2:24 mark of the second quarter.
• Freshman Kimberly Crown led SAU in scoring in the first half with seven points, while SWOSU's Nicole Middleton led the Lady Bulldogs with seven points also.
• The Lady Bulldogs were just 3-of-19 shooting from deep in the first half, but shot 50% from deep in the final two quarters to distance themselves down the stretch.
• Strong shooting beyond the arc for Southwestern Oklahoma and a balanced attack inside the perimeter led to SAU taking a 43-41 lead into the fourth quarter as both teams scored 17 points coming out of the halftime break.
• An 11-4 SWOSU run through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter cushioned a Lady Bulldog advantage at 52-47, before back-to-back three-pointers pushed the Southwestern Oklahoma lead to 11 with four minutes left.
• Southern Arkansas would come as close as eight points as SWOSU used the free throw line to end an SAU comeback effort. Southwestern shot 9-of-12 from the free throw line in the game's final 3:40, while managing just eight attempts from the charity stripe in the first 36:20 of play.

 
FOR SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
 

• Crown led SAU in scoring with 14 points and classmate Erin Brinkley added a dozen points, five rebounds and a team-high two blocks in 27 minutes off of the bench.
• Makaila Jordan and Caroline Ficher each dropped nine points and Jordan collected a team-high seven rebounds to go along with two steals, two assists and a block.

 
FOR THE OPPOSITION
 

• Hailey Tucker registered a solid second half scoring 21 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs. She also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in 37 minutes of work.
• Hayden Priddy followed with a dozen points, six assists, and joined Shalie McAlister with three steals. Middleton and Whitney Dunn registered a pair of blocks each.
• Tyra Aska scored six points and added a game-high eight assists, five rebounds and two steals.

 
UP NEXT
 

• Southern Arkansas will return to action on Thursday, December 15, for a non-conference meeting with Philander Smith at 5:30 p.m. inside Mims Gymnasium in Little Rock, Arkansas.
• Live stats for the contest can be found here: http://www.sidearmstats.com/saumag/wbball.
• 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.