By: Jacob Pumphrey
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SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
LADY MULERIDERS
4-13 (3-8 GAC)
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SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA
SAVAGE STORM
8-10 (6-7 GAC)
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EAST CENTRAL
TIGERS
6-11 (5-8 GAC)
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GAME NOTES (PDF)
Coming a demanding three-game week that was capped off with a 76-53 win over Southern Nazarene, the Southern Arkansas Lady Muleriders head back to Oklahoma for a pair of Great American Conference contests. Southern Arkansas will look to avenge a pair of early season losses to both Southeastern Oklahoma and East Central when they invade the Sooner State this weekend. Tip-off from Durant is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 1, while Saturday's matchup in Ada is set for a 1 p.m. start. After an 0-9 start to the season, the Lady Muleriders began to turn things around with a blowout win over Crowley's Ridge at home. Since that 98-30 win in Magnolia on December 30, SAU is 5-5 with a 4-5 mark in GAC play which includes a four-point defeat on the road at (RV) Arkansas Tech and an 82-77 overtime loss to Oklahoma Baptist.
LADY MULERIDER NEWS AND NOTES
Southern Arkansas enters the first weekend of February on the outside looking in at the eighth and final tournament spot for the Great American Conference's postseason party in Bartlesville in early March, but not by much. Owning a 5-5 record in their last ten games after starting the 2017-18 campaign winless in their first nine trips to the court, the Lady Muleriders are 4-9 in the GAC and just a game back of four teams currently tied for seventh place in the league standings with 5-8 records in conference play.
This weekend's trek back into the Sooner State will provide Southern Arkansas with a chance to make some ground in the conference standings with matchups against Southeastern Oklahoma and East Central on the docket. Both teams got the better of the Lady Muleriders in their respective trips to Magnolia earlier this season. Tip-off from Durant on Thursday, February 1, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. from inside Bloomer Sullivan Arena, with Saturday's start time set for 1 p.m. from inside the Kerr Activities Center in Ada.
For the season, Southern Arkansas is averaging 65.8 points per game (10th), while allowing 69.0 points per game (9th) to its opponents. From the floor, SAU owns a team shooting percentage of 39.0% and a mark of 72.6% from the free throw stripe. The Lady Muleriders' field goal percentage defense is 38.7% including an impressive 33.2% three-point percentage defense which is the fourth-lowest average in the league. The Lady Muleriders will have a chance to showcase that perimeter security as both Southeastern Oklahoma (34.1%) and East Central (30.7%) each average over 7 three-point makes per game with ECU having hoisted the most trifectas this season at 492.
The Lady Muleriders enter the final month of regular season play averaging 37.6 rebounds per game, 4.2 blocked shots per game, 11.4 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. In Pacheco's previous two seasons as head coach, the Lady Muleriders have finished the season with top three marks in steals per game, including owning the league's best per game average last season at 8.5.
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 last ten games, is averaging 20.0 points per game and is shooting just under 43% (66-of-155) from the floor, including a 34.8% (23-of-66) mark from beyond-the-arc. In that time, the Dubach, Louisiana, native has also collected 38 rebounds, 21 steals, nine assists and seven 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 32.5 for the season. Key is currently leading the team in scoring with 15.2 points per game, which ranks 5th in the GAC.
Crown Jewel
Sophomore forward
Kimberly Crown has been as equally impressive in SAU's first nine games of 2018 as the Greenland, Arkansas, native is averaging 14.7 points and 8.8 rebounds in that timespan. In her last nine games, Crown is shooting over 54% (47-of-87) from the floor and over 80% (38-of-47) from the free-throw line, while adding seven blocks, eleven steals and six assists.
Crown's season scoring average of 14.1 points is second on the team and ranks 10th in the GAC, while her season rebounding average of 8.2 ranks sixth in the league. Her 50.6% shooting from the floor is currently fifth in the GAC and her 76.3% shooting clip from the charity stripe ranks fourteenth and is the second-leading free throw clip for a team that owns a 72.6% 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 fifth. This season, Crown has recorded seven games with two or more blocks including a career-high six blocks vs. Crowley's Ridge. The sophomore has scored in double-figures 13 times this season, including four games with 20-plus points and has added eight games with ten or more rebounds, including a career-high 14 boards in an overtime loss vs. Oklahoma Baptist. Crown has produced eight double-doubles and led the team in scoring seven times and in rebounding a dozen 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 last ten games, have combined for 72 rebounds, 80 assists and 49 steals, while averaging a collective 18 points per game led by McWilliams' 11.9 points.
McWilliams per game scoring average is a Top-25 mark in the GAC. In addition, McWilliams has scored in double figures in eight of her past ten games. Her 2.7 steals per game place her second in the league in the category and help Southern Arkansas own the third-best steals per game mark in the GAC at 9.8.
This season, Djedjemel is averaging 2.9 assists per game and 1.6 assists per game. Her assists per game average ranks 14th in the GAC and her steals per game mark ranks 12th.
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 SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
Southeastern Oklahoma has dropped two straight games entering the first weekend in February and has lost six of their eight contests in the 2018. Sitting at 8-10 overall with a 6-7 record in GAC play, the Savage Storm are in a three-way tie for fourth-place.
SOSU scores at an average of 67.6 points per game and own a top-five scoring defense in the GAC which allows just 67.4 points per game. From the floor, the Savage Storm are shooting 40.8%, which includes the league's fourth-highest three-point percentage mark at 34.1%. In addition, SOSU owns the league's fourth-best free throw percentage converting over 78% of their attempts from the line.
Defensively, the Savage Storm allow opponents to shoot just under 40% from the field; the fifth-highest mark in the league, which includes a 33.3% success rate from beyond the arc for opponents; which is the fifth-lowest mark. In terms of rebounding, Southeastern Oklahoma holds opponents to 36.1 rebounds per game which is the second-lowest mark in the conference.
SOSU averages 37.4 rebounds per game, 13.8 assists per game and league-lows in blocked shots per game (1.4) and steals per game (4.2), but own the league's third-best assist-to-turnover ratio at 0.9.
Emem David leads the Savage Storm in scoring with 10.6 points per game and Alix Robinson follows with 9.7 points per game. Both scoring marks rank in the top 30 in the GAC. David is also the team leader in rebounding grabbing the league's fourth-most rebounds per game at 8.5, while own a top-15 shooting percentage from the floor at 46.9%. David's fourth-most rebounds overall come courtesy of the top offensive rebound mark in the GAC at 3.5, while her defensive rebounds per game average of 5.0 ranks seventh.
In addition to David's high marks in the GAC, Sa'Liesha Hunter's 3.9 assists per game ranks fifth in the league as does her 82.7% mark from the free throw line. Hunter and Courtney Brady each collect 0.7 steals per game and Hunter's 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio currently ranks fifth.
Brady is the team's top shooter from distance owning a 41.3% mark from beyond the arc for a team that averages 7.1 makes from three-point range, which includes Robinson's 2.6 makes per game; the third-best mark in the league.
COACH
Darin Grover is in his 13th season as head coach of the Savage Storm Women's Basketball program. The 2014-15 Great American Conference Coach of the Year, Grover has engineered three 20-win seasons and two trips to the NCAA South Central Region Tournament. Prior to coming to Southeastern, Grover spent three seasons at Northeastern Oklahoma in Miami, Okla., where he put together an 81.1 winning percentage as he led the Lady Norse to a 77-18 record and was once named the Region II Junior College Coach of the Year.
THE SERIES
Saturday afternoon's clash will be the 22nd meeting between the two programs since 1995-96. Southeastern Oklahoma holds a steady 17-4 record against the Lady Muleriders, while SAU is just 2-11 against the Savage Storm since the GAC's inception in 2011-12. Of those two wins, both have been on the road and decided by four point or less: a 57-53 SAU win on February 8, 2014 and a 67-64 win in Durant on November 21, 2015. Of the two wins by SAU prior to the two programs joining the GAC, one came in Durant; a 63-52 win on November 15, 2004.
LAST TIME OUT | SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA 85, SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 64
Southern Arkansas rallied from an eight-point first quarter deficit to pull within a bucket of the lead at the half against Southeastern Oklahoma. But it was all Savage Storm in the second half as they outscored the Lady Muleriders 49-31 in the final two quarters.
Ramiah Henry led the way scoring for Southern Arkansas with 20 points and added three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Erin Brinkley added 14 points and six rebounds, one block and one steal, while
Angela Villarreal scored a dozen points and collected three assists.
SCOUTING EAST CENTRAL
East Central enters this weekend of play having lost three-consecutive Great American Conference games and own a 6-11 mark overall with a 5-8 record in league play. The Tigers are currently a game ahead of Southern Arkansas in the league standings and in a four-way tie for 10th place.
ECU is currently averaging a league-low 61.6 points per game and allows the fifth-most points per game at 68.9. Despite shooting struggles from the floor in terms of percentage, including a 33.3% (12th) mark overall and a 30.7% (11th) clip from three-point range, the Tigers own the league's best percentage from the free-throw line successfully converting 79.2% of their attempts, while three players rank in the top-12 of the category, including the league leader in free throw percentage Lakin Preisner (95.2%), Madison Rehl (9th | 80.0%) and Devon Branch (12th | 78.6%).
Despite the low average from three-point range which can be attributed to hoisting the most shots from beyond the arc this season (492), the Tigers lead the GAC in three-point makes per game averaging 8.9 and boast two players in the league's top-15 in three-point percentage. Kendall Schulte's 48.8% success rate from long range ranks second in the GAC and Preisner's 36.5% clip is 13th, while her 1.8 three-point makes per game ranks 12th. Branch leads the team in three-point makes per game with 2.5. In addition, the Lady Muleriders rank fourth in the GAC in defending the three-point shot with opponents hitting just 33.2% of their attempts.
The Tigers have struggled on the boards ranking last in rebounding on both ends of the court owning a rebounding margin of -10.3. East Central, through 17 games, is averaging 11.0 assists, 6.8 steals, and 2.6 blocked shots per game. Additionally, ECU owns one of the league's best turnover margins at +2.82.
Branch and Preisner are the top two scorers for the Tigers this season, both ranking in the top-16 with Branch dropping just under 14 points per game and Preisner adding 12.8 points per game, while also leading the team in rebounding with 5.7 rebounds per game, which stands as the 15th-best mark in the GAC.
Rehl (41.8%) and Preisner (40.8%) own the top two shooting clips among ECU players with 75 or more shot attempts this season.
Maci Hanson leads the team in assists averaging 1.9 per game and Rehl follows at 1.8, while Alexa Adair adds 1.7. Preisner's steals per game average of 1.9 ranks 6th in the league and Hanson's 0.9 blocked shots per game average is tied for 8th.
COACH
Matt Cole is in the midst of his fourth season at the helm of the Tiger Women's Basketball program after being named head coach in April of 2014. A defensive-minded coach, Cole currently holds a career record of 46-54 at ECU entering this weekend of play. Cole came to Ada from Northeastern State where he had previously spent the last 11 years ('03-'14) as an assistant women's basketball coach where he helped the Riverhawks to seven NCAA Tournaments, including a pair of Sweet 16 appearances.
LAST TIME OUT | EAST CENTRAL 55, SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 46
The Tigers led by 17 at the halftime break after holding Southern Arkansas to just four second-quarter points and would use that fast start to hold on for a win in the GAC opener for both teams. The Lady Muleriders would go on to outscore ECU in the second half 31-23, but would not be able to erase the difficult first half deficit.
Sue Key led SAU in scoring with 13 points and grabbed ten rebounds in a double-double effort, while
Olivia McWilliams and
Anna Djedjemel each added nine points.
THE SERIES
It will be the 19th meeting between the two programs since the 1995-96 season. East Central holds the series lead at 11-7. After the two programs became charter members of the Great American Conference in 2011, East Central has won 8 of the 14 meetings. The Lady Muleriders last won in Ada on November 19, 2015 with a 63-59 victory in the league opener for both teams. It is also the lone SAU road win vs. East Central in the series.
