By: Jacob Pumphrey
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SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
LADY MULERIDERS
4-13 (3-8 GAC)
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OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
LADY BISON
9-8 (4-7 GAC)
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SOUTHERN NAZARENE
CRIMSON STORM
7-8 (5-6 GAC)
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GAME NOTES (PDF)
LADY MULERIDER NEWS AND NOTES
After an 1-9 finish in the 2017 portion of the campaign, the Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider Basketball team has won three out of its seven games in the new year, with all three wins coming against Great American Conference foes. SAU is currently eleventh in the league standings, but just two games back of the eighth and final tournament spot for Bartlesville.
The Lady Muleriders will have an opportunity to climb the league standings this weekend, but face a pair of formidable opponents beginning with the high-scoring offense of Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday, January 25, in a 5:30 p.m. tip-off. On Saturday, January 27, the Lady Muleriders are back in action at 1 p.m. as they host one of the best defensive teams in Southern Nazarene.
In the nine losses that SAU suffered to begin the year, the Lady Muleriders averaged just 60.2 points per game with a -12.4 scoring margin, behind a collective 36.2% shooting mark from the floor. In that timespan, Southern Arkansas was also averaging 35.9 rebounds per game, which led to a -8.3 rebounding margin, in addition to averaging over 18 turnovers per game.
For the season, Southern Arkansas is averaging 64.6 points per game, while allowing 69.2 points per game to its opponents. From the floor, SAU owns a team shooting percentage of 38.7% and a mark of 72.2% from the free throw stripe. The Lady Muleriders' field goal percentage defense is 39.1% including an impressive 32.7% three-point percentage defense which is the third-lowest average in the league.
The Lady Muleriders enter the fourth weekend of January averaging 37.4 rebounds per game, 4.2 blocked shots per game, 11.0 assists per game and 9.8 steals per game. The team's per game averages in blocked shots and steals each rank in the top-four in the GAC.
Key(s) to Success
Senior transfer
Sue Key has been a vital factor in Southern Arkansas' successes in 2018. The 5-9 guard, in her seven games in the new year, is averaging 21.6 points per game and is shooting just under 36% (50-of-119) from the floor, including a 36.5% (19-of-52) mark from beyond-the-arc. In that time, the Dubach, Louisiana, native has also collected 30 rebounds, ten steals, seven assists and five blocks.
Plagued with a short bench, Key has proven to be a durable performer for the Lady Muleriders as she leads the team in minutes per game averaging 32.1 for the season. Key is currently leading the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game, which ranks 7th in the GAC.
Crown Jewel
Sophomore forward
Kimberly Crown has been as equally impressive in SAU's first seven games of 2018 as the Greenland, Arkansas, native is averaging 13.0 points and 8.7 rebounds in that timespan. In her last seven games, Crown is shooting over 50% (32-of-63) from the floor and over 84% (27-of-32) from the free-throw line, while adding five blocks, nine steals and four assists.
Crown's season scoring average of 13.3 points is second on the team and ranks 15th in the GAC, while her season rebounding average of 8.1 ranks seventh in the league. Her 48.6% shooting from the floor is currently fifth in the GAC and her 76.8% shooting clip from the charity stripe ranks twelfth and is the second-leading free throw clip for a team that owns a 72.2% free throw mark which stands as the sixth-best mark in the league this season.
Crown's 1.4 blocked shots per game average is currently sixth. This season, Crown has recorded six games with two or more blocks including a career-high six blocks vs. Crowley's Ridge. The sophomore has scored in double-figures eleven times this season, including three games with 20-plus points and has added seven games with ten or more rebounds in producing seven double-doubles. Crown has led the team in scoring six times and in rebounding eleven times.
O and D
Junior guard
Olivia McWilliams (Little Rock, Ark.) and senior guard
Anna Djedjemel (Castellanza, Italy) have been just as impressive as their top-scoring teammates and have gotten the job done on both ends of the court as the duo, in SAU's seven games in the new year, have combined for 43 rebounds, 49 assists and 36 steals, while averaging a collective 15 points per game led by McWilliams' 11.7 points.
McWilliams is currently averaging 11.0 points per game which is a Top-25 scoring mark in the GAC. In addition, McWilliams has scored in double figures in five of her past seven games. Her 2.7 steals per game place her second in the league in the category and help Southern Arkansas own the second-best steals per game mark in the GAC at 9.8.
This season, Djedjemel is averaging 2.7 assists per game and her 1.6 assists per game is tied for the 13th-best mark in the GAC.
COACH
The Lady Muleriders are coached by
Julio Pacheco, who begins his third season at Southern Arkansas. Pacheco guided the Lady Muleriders to a NCAA DII program record 19 wins and their first postseason victory in nine years in his first year on the job and after a rebuilding year in 2016-17, Pacheco has the new look Lady Muleriders poised to return to the Great American Conference Tournament.
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
Oklahoma Baptist enters the weekend with an overall record of 9-8 and a 4-7 mark in the Great American Conference. The Lady Bison have dropped three of their previous four league games after an 8-5 start to the season.
Led by four players who average double-figures in scoring, including a pair of players with top five scoring marks in the Great American Conference, Oklahoma Baptist owns the league's second-best scoring offense averaging 81.8 points per game. That average comes courtesy of the league's best shooting percentage (45.1%), second-highest three-point percentage (36.5%) with the third-most made three-pointers (141 at 8.3 pg) and the second-highest free-throw percentage (79.2%). The Lady Bison averages 16.1 assists per game, the top mark in the GAC and own the highest assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.1 with the second-best turnover margin at +3.35.
However, defensively Oklahoma Baptist has allowed a league-worst 76.1 points per game, while allowing opponents to shoot a league-high 43.5% from the floor, including 33.1% from beyond the arc. OKB owns a -1.9 rebounding average and is currently averaging 2.5 blocked shots (10th) and 9.2 steals per game (4th).
McKenzie Cooper comes to Magnolia with the conference's second-highest scoring average at 16.8 points per game and the league's third-best shooting percentage at 50.9%, while teammate Tasha Edge averages 15.5 points per game; the fifth-best mark in the league. The duo also owns top ten marks in minutes played with each averaging over 32 minutes per game. Shaylan Coleman (13.2 ppg at 47.7% shooting) and Lexi Williams (10.3) round out double-figure scoring with top-25 scoring averages in the GAC.
Edge is the team's top rebounder with the league's third-highest per game average of 8.5, while Autumn Avina grabs 5.9 boards per game which currently stands as the 12th-best average.
Avina (4.9 assists | 2.5 steals) and Coleman (3.5 assists | 2.2 steals) carry the team's high assist-to-turnover ratio as both own two of the six highest assists per game averages in the GAC this season, while also being responsible for two of the highest steals per game averages in the league as well. Individually, Avina owns a 1.7 a-t-t rate and Coleman's stands at 1.1. In addition, each player averages 0.8 blocked shots per game.
From the line, three players rank in the top five of the GAC as Cooper (92.0%), Avina (87.8%) and Edge (83.3%) have all attempted 45 or more shots from the charity stripe. Cooper and Edge are also salty from three-point range as Cooper's 51.1% mark is second in the GAC, while Edge's 39.1% success rate ranks seventh.
COACH
The Lady Bison are coached by Casi Bays, who is in her sixth season as head coach at Oklahoma Baptist. So far this season, Bays has directed Oklahoma Baptist to a 9-8 record overall entering this weekend with a 4-7 mark in league play. The nine wins match OKB's win total from a season ago after the Lady Bison went 9-19 overall; the program's first season under Bays' leadership that OBU failed to win at least 14 games. Entering the 2017-18 season, Bays has amassed a 95-61 record overall. 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
The Lady Muleriders are just 1-4 in five meetings with Oklahoma Baptist. The lone win for SAU in the brief series happened in Shawnee as the Lady Muleriders claimed a 74-71 win in the 2016-17 regular season finale. All five meetings have been decided by less than nine points with three games resulting in five-point differences and two of those being decided by just a basket, including an overtime thriller that saw OKB top SAU 91-88 in Magnolia on February 25, 2016.
LAST TIME OUT | OKLAHOMA BAPTIST (96), SOUTHERN ARKANSAS (87) | 11/18/17
Southern Arkansas trailed 52-49 at the halftime break, but with 49 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the Lady Muleriders tied the game at 71 behind a layup from
Anna Djedjemel. In the fourth quarter however, the Lady Bison capitalized on four SAU turnovers to pull away 96-87. Four Lady Muleriders scored in double figures led by
Kimberly Crown's 24 points. SAU's 49 points in the first half were the most Southern Arkansas had scored in an opening half since scoring 54 against LeMoyne Owen in December of 2015. The Lady Muleriders have since surpassed that mark with their 52-point first half in last Saturday's win over Henderson State.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN NAZARENE
Southern Nazarene enters the weekend at 7-8 overall and 5-6 in league play. The Crimson Storm are 1-4 on the road in Great American Conference play this season and is currently in a four-way tie for fifth place in the updated league standings.
SNU averages 67.5 points per game and allows 68.7 points per game for a -1.1 scoring margin. The Crimson Storm are shooting 65.8% from the free throw line, own a 37.0% mark from the floor which includes a 32.2% success rate from three-point range. All three shooting averages are around the lowest in the league, but Southern Nazarene owns the league's best field goal percentage defense at 36.3% and the fourth-best three-point percentage defense at 33.1%.
The Crimson Storm average 42.3 rebounds per game, 4.5 blocked shots per game, 13.4 assists per game and 8.4 steals per game and own the eighth-best marks in turnover margin (+0.20) and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.8).
Adrienne Berry is the team's leading scorer averaging 16.7 points per game which stands as the third-highest scoring mark in the GAC this season and her 32.2 minutes per game is the eighth-highest average. Three players rank in the top 20 in rebounding led by Abby Niehues who averages 6.9 rebounds per game, followed by Sidney Carolina's 5.9 rebounds per game. Niehues is the league's leader in blocks per game averaging an impressive 2.9 blocks per contest.
Alexus Jones grabs 5.5 rebounds per game and is leads the team in assists per game with 5.3 and steals per game at 1.7. Her rebound averages ranks in the top 20 in the GAC, while her assists and steals averages both rank in the top 10 in the league. Those numbers give Jones the fifth-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference with a mark of 1.6.
COACH
Southern Nazarene is led by Derek Dorris, who is in his sixth season as the head coach of the Crimson Storm Women's Basketball program. This season, Dorris has the Storm at 7-8 overall with a 5-6 record in the GAC entering the fourth week of play in January. Last year, Dorris and the Storm posted a 13-14 mark overall, a 10-12 record in Great American Conference play, and made the program's first trip to the postseason as a Division II member. Dorris has tallied a career-record at SNU of 60-75 (.444) entering the 2017-18 campaign. In 2012-13, Dorris led SNU to the NCCAA National Championship, while garnering NCCAA Coach of the Year honors.
LAST TIME OUT | SOUTHERN NAZARENE (72), SOUTHERN ARKANSAS (59) | 11/16/17
After trailing for the entirety of the first half, the Lady Muleriders scored the first six points after the intermission to take the lead from Southern Nazarene early in the third quarter. However, midway through the fourth quarter the Crimson Storm engineered a late 18-8 run that proved to be the difference in the game, 72-59.
Kimberly Crown's 15 points and 10 rebounds produced her first double-double of the season, while
Sue Key and
Olivia McWilliams added nine points apiece for Southern Arkansas in the loss.
THE SERIES
Southern Nazarene holds an 8-3 series lead over the Lady Muleriders since joining the Great American Conference at the beginning of the 2012-13 season. Southern Arkansas is just 2-3 against the Storm at home inside the W.T. Watson Center which include a 63-42 win on November 20, 2014, and a 75-41 victory on February 27, 2016. The lone road win coming during the 2015-16 season: a 90-78 win in Pacheco's first-year as head coach. Southern Arkansas has suffered three-straight losses against SNU after having won three of the previous four meetings.
