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SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
LADY MULERIDERS
5-19 (3-17 GAC)
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SOUTHERN NAZARENE
CRIMSON STORM
11-13 (8-12 GAC)
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OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
LADY BISON
8-18 (5-15 GAC)
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GAME NOTES (PDF)
TIPPING OFF
The Southern Arkansas Lady Muleriders (5-19, 3-17 GAC) travel to Oklahoma for the final two games of their 2016-17 season. Thursday night, February 23, they clash with Southern Nazarene (11-13, 8-12 GAC) at 5:30 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center, before concluding this year's campaign in Shawnee, Oklahoma, in a 1 p.m. tip-off with Oklahoma Baptist (8-18, 5-15 GAC) on Saturday, February 25.
SAU will look to avenge losses to both schools earlier in the season, while also attempting to snap a nine-game losing streak.
Live stats and live video as well as SAU audio will be available for the final two games of the 2016-17 season with links located above and on the Women's Basketball schedule tab on www.muleriderathletics.com.
LADY MULERIDER NEWS AND NOTES
Southern Arkansas heads to Oklahoma for the final two games of their season beginning on Thursday, February 23, with a 5:30 p.m. tip-off inside the Sawyer Center in Bethany, Oklahoma, with a Great American Conference matchup against Southern Nazarene. The Lady Muleriders will then close out the 2016-17 campaign in Shawnee, Oklahoma, with a 1 p.m. tip-off with Oklahoma Baptist inside the Noble Complex on Saturday, February 25. The Lady Muleriders are 5-19 overall, 3-17 in league play and are looking to finish the season on a high note after falling in their last nine contests.
Offensively, SAU scores at an average of 59.1 points per game, but owns the sixth-best scoring defense in the conference at 68.6 ppg. Southern Arkansas ranks among the league's top-five in a pair of other statistical categories: Rebounding Defense (3rd | 38.3 rpg) and Steals (5th | 7.6 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 11.1 points per game (21st | GAC) and 7.2 rebounds per game (9th | GAC), while junior guard
Anna Djedjemel (Castellanza, Italy) follows with 7.6 points per game while also leading the team with the league's 13th-most assists per game at 2.8 and in minutes played at 29.3 per game.
Freshman forward
Erin Brinkley (Tyler, Texas) is shooting a team-high 44.8% (39-of-87) from the floor and a team-best 80% (16-of-20) from the charity stripe, while Crown and Djedjemel are shooting over 70% from the free-throw line: Djedjemel (18-of-24 | .750) and Crown (110-of-153 | .719).
Sophomore guard
Jasmyn Eckerman (Pine Bluff, Ark.) scores 6.7 points per game and averages 4.2 rebounds per game. Eckerman has scored in double figures in eight of her last 11 games dating back to January 19. In her last four games, Eckerman is averaging 11.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. She has also recorded 22 steals this season and five games with two or more steals.
Senior guard
Makaila Jordan (Wylie, Texas) has increasingly topped her output from a year ago as she is averaging 6.6 points and 5.4 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 - twice), rebounds (11), assists (5) and steals (4).
Defensively, Crown averages a team-leading 1.3 blocks per game and has recorded five games with three or more blocks. Djedjemel paces SAU with 1.5 steals per game with 11 games of two or more steals. The Lady Muleriders are holding the opposition to a shooting clip of 40.5% (8th | GAC).
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 SOUTHERN NAZARENE CRIMSON STORM
Southern Nazarene enters Thursday's contest at 11-13 overall and 8-12 in Great American Conference play. The Crimson Storm have lost four straight games, but are 5-2 in their last seven games when playing inside the Sawyer Center.
As a team, SNU is one of the better offense teams in the league as they score at the third-highest average in the GAC at 76.1 points per game, while allowing 73.4 points defensively (8th | GAC) for a 2.7 scoring margin (5th | GAC). From the field, the Crimson Storm are shooting 41.3% overall (4th | GAC), which includes a 32.7% success rate from three-point range (5th | GAC). At the free throw line, Southern Nazarene hits 73.5% (4th | GAC) of their charity stripe attempts. The Crimson Storm are currently allowing their opponents to shoot 39.5% from the floor (6th | GAC).
Southern Nazarene owns the league's third-highest rebounding margin at 4.3 and places third in assists per game (15.2) and fourth in blocks per game (3.8). The Crimson Storm's turnover margin is -1.39 (10th | GAC).
SNU has three players scoring in double figure, with two of those players ranking in the top-8 of the Great American Conference. Abby Boyd averages 14.2 points per game (6th | GAC) and Adrienna Berry follows in eighth-place with 13.8 points. Callee Mason adds 10.2 points per game (29th | GAC) and rounds out double figure scoring for the Crimson Storm.
Boyd also places in the top-10 in four other categories: assists per game (4.5 | 3rd), free throw percentage (83.3% | 6th), minutes played (32.2 | 7th), and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2 | 9th), while owning the 11th-highest three-point percentage in the league at 36.4%. Berry, Boyd and Mason combine for 5.7 three-point makes per game with all three ranking in the top-15 among the conference in that category.
Berry shoots 80.0% from the charity stripe (12th | GAC) and 34.1% from three-point range (13th | GAC). Danielle Gaddis leads the team in rebounding with 7.7 rebounds per game (5th | GAC). Rachel Doerneman owns the fifth-highest field goal percentage in the conference at 50.9% and collects 1.1 blocks per game (7th | GAC).
COACH
Southern Nazarene is led by Derek Dorris, who is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Crimson Storm Women's Basketball program. Dorris has tallied a career-record at SNU of 58-74 entering Thursday's contest. In 2012-13, Dorris led SNU to the NCCAA National Championship, while garnering NCCAA Coach of the Year honors.
THE SERIES
Thursday's meeting will be the tenth between the two programs since Southern Nazarene began play in the Great American Conference and NCAA Division II in the 2012-13 season. The Crimson Storm hold a 6-3 series lead and a 3-1 record at home against Southern Arkansas. The two SAU wins came last season as the Lady Muleriders won the pair of contests by an average of 23 points.
LAST TIME OUT
Southern Nazarene cruised to a 72-42 victory over Southern Arkansas in their first meeting this season on January 7. SNU grabbed 61 rebounds, with 21 of those boards coming off of the offensive glass and held SAU to an overall shooting percentage of just 21.9%.
Kimberly Crown led SAU with ten points (8-of-10 FT), ten rebounds and five blocks. Abby Boyd and Kandyce Freeman scored 16 points apiece for Southern Nazarene and Callee Mason followed with ten points.
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA BAPTIST LADY BISON
Oklahoma Baptist enters play with an 8-18 record overall and 5-15 in Great American Conference play. The Bison have won two out of their past three games after having previously lost five straight.
As a team, OKB averages 69.9 points per game offensively (8th | GAC), while allowing 74.2 points on defense (9th | GAC) for a -4.3 scoring margin (10th | GAC). From the field, the Lady Bison are shooting 38.1% overall (8th | GAC), which includes a 32.1% success rate from long range (6th | GAC). OKB owns the league's best free throw percentage at 76.5%. The Lady Bison allow the opposition to shoot at a clip of 41.5% (9th | GAC).
Oklahoma Baptist currently has a 0.6 rebounding margin (6th | GAC), a 0.8 assist-to-turnover ratio (8th | GAC) and a -0.73 turnover margin (8th | GAC). The team's 7.4 three-point makes per game are ranked sixth in the conference.
The Bison have four players scoring in double figures led by Katy Custer's 14.2 points per game, which ranks fifth in the GAC. Tasha Edge follows with 14.0 points per game (7th | GAC) and also leads OKB in rebounding at 8.7 boards per contest (3rd | GAC). Custer adds 5.9 rebounds per game (14th | GAC) and owns a 37.9% clip from three-point range (7th | GAC).
Cameerah Graves' 3.8 assists per game are the sixth-most in the GAC, while Autumn Avina follows with the 11th-highest assist rate at 3.3. Graves adds 1.8 steals per game (3rd | GAC) and Lexi Williams grabs 1.3 steals per outing (15th | GAC). Avina's 86.9% clip from the free throw line (2nd | GAC) leads the conference's best free throw shooting team, while Edge (82.0% | 8th), Custer (80.6% | 9th) and Graves (80.2% | 11th) all shoot over 80% from the line.
Graves (1.6 | 5th) and Avina (1.0 | 11th) rank in the top-11 of the GAC in assist-to-turnover ratio, combining for a ratio of 2.6, while Graves (32.8 | 5th) joins Edge (35.3 | 3rd) in the league's top-five in minutes played.
COACH
The Bison are coached by Casi Bays, who is in her 5th season as head coach at Oklahoma Baptist. Entering this season, Bays has amassed an 86-42 record. The 2013-14 Sooner Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Bays has recorded two 25-win seasons including a career-high 28 wins in her second season, while making a trip to the NAIA National Quarterfinals in the 2014-15 season.
THE SERIES
Southern Arkansas has yet to defeat the Lady Bison in three attempts since Oklahoma Baptist joined NCAA Division II and the GAC in 2015-16. In their lone trip to Shawnee, Southern Arkansas fell 89-81 on January 7, 2016, before being edged by the Lady Bison in a thrilling overtime affair, 91-88, a month and a half later.
LAST TIME OUT
Oklahoma Baptist engineered a fourth quarter rally (23-8) after entering the final ten minutes of action down 45-44 to defeat Southern Arkansas in Magnolia, 67-53, on January 5. Three Lady Bison scored in double figures led by Tasha Edge's 14 points followed by a dozen points from Lexi Williams and ten points from Autumn Avina. Edge recorded a double-double with a game-high ten rebounds.
