GAMES NOTES (PDF)
TIPPING OFF
It is the season's second edition of "Rivalry Monday" around the Great American Conference and in Southeast Arkansas, the Lady Muleriders (5-16, 3-14 GAC) are hoping to complete the season sweep of Arkansas-Monticello (10-11, 7-10 GAC) as SAU travels to Drew County for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off with the Blossoms inside Steelman Fieldhouse.
Southern Arkansas has won three straight games against the Blossoms and is hoping to snap a six-game losing streak to keep their postseason hopes alive.
UAM is 3-3 in their last six games overall and are 3-3 in their last six contests inside Steelman Fieldhouse.
Live stats and live video as well as SAU audio will be available for Monday's meeting in Monticello with links located on the Women's Basketball schedule tab on www.muleriderathletics.com.
LADY MULERIDER NEWS AND NOTES
Southern Arkansas is staring down a tough three-game week beginning with the second half of their "Rivalry Monday" series with Arkansas-Monticello on Monday at 5:30 p.m. inside Steelman Fieldhouse in Drew County. SAU will travel to Arkadelphia on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off with Ouachita Baptist inside Bill Vining Arena, before returning home for the season finale inside the W.T. Watson Center as they host Harding on Senior Day. The Lady Muleriders are 5-16 overall, 3-14 in league play and are currently fighting to remain in the hunt for a tournament berth in March.
The Lady Muleriders are in the midst of a six-game losing streak with five games remaining in the regular season. Offensively, SAU scores at an average of 60.4 points per game and owns the sixth-best scoring defense in the conference at 69.8 ppg. Southern Arkansas also ranks among the league's top-five in a pair of other statistical categories: Rebounding Defense (3rd | 37.6 rpg) and Steals (3rd | 8.0 spg).
Newcomers have played a huge role for the Lady Muleriders this season as two new faces are leading the team in scoring. Freshman forward
Kimberly Crown (Greenland, Ark.) averages team-bests with 12.0 points per game (20th | GAC) and 7.4 rebounds per game (9th | GAC), while junior guard
Anna Djedjemel (Castellanza, Italy) follows with 7.7 points per game while also leading the team with the league's 12th-most assists per game at 2.9 and in minutes played at 29.1 per game. Crown is shooting a team-high 45.9% (73-of-159) from the floor which is the 13th-best clip in the conference, and joins Djedjemel in shooting over 70% from the free-throw line: Djedjemel (18-of-24 | .750) and Crown (106-of-145 | .731).
Freshman guard
Aaliyah Holmes (San Antonio, Texas) scores 6.5 points per game and averages 1.7 assists per game. Holmes has scored in double figures five times this season including a career-high 18 points in a home loss to Northwestern Oklahoma, and has also registered three or more assists in six games in her rookie campaign.
Senior guard
Makaila Jordan (Wylie, Texas) has increasingly topped her output from a year ago as she is averaging 6.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per game compared to 2.4 and 1.9, respectively, last season. In her final year for Southern Arkansas, Jordan has logged single-game career-highs in points (16), rebounds (9 - twice), assists (5) and steals (4).
Defensively, Crown averages a team-leading 1.2 blocks per game. Djedjemel paces SAU with 1.6 steals per game. The Lady Muleriders are holding the opposition to a shooting clip of 41.3%.
COACH
The Lady Muleriders are coached by
Julio Pacheco, who is in his second season at Southern Arkansas. Pacheco guided the Lady Muleriders to a NCAA DII program record 19 wins a season ago and their first postseason victory in nine years. For his efforts, Pacheco was named Women's Basketball Coach of the Year in the Great American Conference.
SCOUTING ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO
Arkansas-Monticello enters play at 10-11 overall and 7-10 in Great American Conference play. The Blossoms are currently 7-6 when playing inside Steelman Fieldhouse. UAM is holding onto the eighth and final tournament spot; one game up on Ouachita Baptist and Northwestern Oklahoma.
As a team, UAM averages 67.2 points per game offensively (10th | GAC), while allowing 66.6 points on defense (4th | GAC) for a 0.6 scoring margin. From the field, the Blossoms are shooting 41.7% overall (3rd | GAC), which includes the league's best three point percentage at 36%, while attempting the second fewest trifectas per game at 6.1.
Defensively, the Blossoms allow their opponents to shoot 40.7%, which is the seventh highest mark in the conference, but have allowed the opposition to just a 26.9% success rate from long range which is also a high water mark in the GAC. UAM owns the best turnover margin in the GAC at 2.38 and the conference's top assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.1, while averaging the second-most assists in the league with 15.7 per game. On the boards, the Blossoms are in the negative in rebounding margin at -5.8 (11th | GAC).
The Blossoms have three players in the top-30 in scoring among GAC players led by Ayesha Wahid's 12.8 points per game (14th | GAC). Treasure Evans averages 12.3 points per game (T-16th | GAC) and also leads UAM in rebounding at 5.8 boards per contest (13th | GAC). Nelsha Peterson scores at a clip of 10.8 points per game and owns the league's eighth-best shooting percentage at 48.7%.
Brittnee Broadway (4.2) and Mia Hayes (4.0) rank fifth and sixth respectively in the GAC in assists per game and are first and second, respectively in assist-to-turnover ratio led by Broadway's mark of 2.4.
Taylor Collins (40.8% | 2nd-GAC) and Wahid (39.2% | 5th-GAC) are the team's top three-point shooters, while Collins is tied for 15th in the GAC in steals per game at 1.4 and Wahid ranks 13th in blocked shots per contest with 0.8.
COACH
The Blossoms are coached by Tanya Ray, who is in her 6th season as head coach at Arkansas-Monticello. Entering this season, Ray has amassed an 52-82 record. Ray has led UAM to the Great American Conference Tournament in four of her five years as head coach. Ray has her Blossoms on the brink of a trip to Bartlesville for the 2017 Great American Conference Tournament.
THE SERIES
Monday's meeting will be the 12th Great American Conference matchup between the programs dating back to the 2011-12 season, when both schools became charter members of the NCAA's youngest Division II Athletic Conference. The Blossoms hold a 7-4 record during that time, but the Lady Muleriders have claimed three straight victories over UAM. When playing in Drew County, Southern Arkansas is just 1-4 against the Blossoms, but defeated UAM 75-59 last season inside Steelman Fieldhouse.
LAST TIME OUT
The last time these two programs met was on January 16 with Southern Arkansas claiming a thrilling 80-78 overtime win in Magnolia; the team's second OT victory in the 2016-17 season. UAM led by three at the end of the third quarter, before the Lady Muleriders surged late and converted key free throws to force the bonus session where
Alyssa Hamilton crashed inside on an SAU miss late for a last second putback to grab the victory. The Blossoms were led in scoring by Ayesha Wahid who scored 23 points, while SAU received a career-high scoring output from
Kimberly Crown who delivered with 26 points to lead four Lady Muleriders in double figures.
