By: Jacob Pumphrey
|
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
LADY MULERIDERS
8-15 (7-10 GAC)
|
ARKANSAS TECH
GOLDEN SUNS
18-3 (14-3 GAC)
|
HARDING
LADY BISONS
12-13 (8-9 GAC)
|
|
GAME NOTES (PDF) | GAC STATS | GAC STANDINGS
TIPPING OFF
With five games remaining in the final ten days of the regular season, the Southern Arkansas Lady Muleriders find themselves in a position to control their own postseason destiny. SAU, winners in four of their last five games, have experienced a resurgence in 2018 after enduring an abysmal 1-9 start to the season. For the Lady Muleriders, this weekend's Great American Conference slate could settle a lot in terms of the program's chances at getting back to Bartlesville after missing out on the league's postseason party last spring.
On Thursday, Southern Arkansas plays host to Arkansas Tech, who enters with an 18-3 mark overall and a 14-3 record in GAC play. The Golden Suns have won two straight, nine out of their past ten, and have clinched their seventh-straight trip to the league's conference tournament. Two days later, the Lady Muleriders hit the road for Searcy for a rare Saturday evening tip-off with Harding inside the usually-raucous Rhodes-Reaves Field House. The Lady Bisons, like SAU, struggled early on in league play, but have rattled off three wins in a row and have won in six of their past seven trips to the court. Harding finds themselves on the brink of making its seventh-staight league tournament in Bartlesville.
Three teams, #7 Southwestern Oklahoma, Arkansas Tech, and Henderson State, have clinched tournament berths, while mathematically leaving the other nine teams to battle for the remaining five spots to Bartlesville. Live links of the weekend's action can be found at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
LADY MULERIDER NEWS AND NOTES
Southern Arkansas comes into the final ten days of the regular season with five in-state affairs left on the 2017-18 regular season schedule. The Lady Muleriders (8-15, 7-10 GAC), who control their own destiny, are one of the nine GAC teams left fighting for the final five spots for the league tournament in Bartlesville. SAU enters the weekend in a tie for seventh-place with Oklahoma Baptist and just one game back of what is currently a three-way tie for fourth.
The Lady Muleriders are 7-6 in 2018 after suffering through a 1-9 start during the 2017 portion of the campaign. Currently 8-15 overall with a 7-10 mark in Great American Conference play, Southern Arkansas has won four of their past five games. In the six losses the team has suffered in 2018, SAU held halftime leads in three of those games.
SAU faces a tough task on Thursday night inside the W.T. Watson Center as Arkansas Tech comes to Magnolia with the second-best record in league play. Tip-off with the Golden Suns is set for 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Lady Muleriders look for the season sweep of Harding in a highly-touted league tilt slated for the primetime 5:30 p.m. slot.
For the season, Southern Arkansas is averaging 67.1 points per game, while allowing 69.0 points per game to its opponents. From the floor, SAU owns a team shooting percentage of 39.8% and a mark of 72.2% from the free throw stripe. The Lady Muleriders' field goal percentage defense is 38.9% including an impressive 33.8% three-point percentage defense which is the fifth-lowest average in the league.
The Lady Muleriders enter the final week and a half of regular season play averaging 37.2 rebounds per game, 4.1 blocked shots per game, 11.7 assists per game and 10.0 steals per game. The team's per game averages in blocked shots and steals each rank in the top five in the GAC with the steals per game average placing second. 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. In 2018, the 5-9 guard is averaging 21.5 points per game and is shooting 43.7% (93-of-213) from the floor, including a 37.6% (35-of-93) mark from beyond-the-arc. In that time, the Dubach, Louisiana, native has also collected 50 rebounds, 20 steals, 14 assists and nine blocks.
Key has registered three-games of 30 or more points this season including a career-high 40 points in a road win over Henderson State and 34 points in a road win at East Central which included a late runner to even the season series. Key was named the Great American Conference's Player of the Week in Week 13 following her a weekend which included her performance at ECU.
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 33.2 for the season. Key is currently leading the team in scoring with 16.9 points per game, which ranks in the top five in the GAC.
Crown Jewel
Sophomore forward
Kimberly Crown has been as equally impressive in SAU's thirteen games of 2018 as the Greenland, Arkansas, native is averaging 14.2 points and 8.3 rebounds in that timespan. In 2018, Crown is shooting 51.6% (66-of-128) from the floor and over 78% (52-of-66) from the free-throw line, while adding 14 blocks, 12 steals and eight assists.
Crown's season scoring average of 13.9 points is second on the team and ranks in the top 15 of the GAC, while her season rebounding average of 8.0 ranks in the top seven in the league. Her 49.8% shooting from the floor is currently in the top five in the GAC and her 75.9% shooting clip from the charity stripe is the second-leading free throw clip for a team that owns a 72.2% free throw mark which stands as a top seven mark in the league this season.
Crown's 1.4 blocked shots per game average is currently in the top five. This season, Crown has recorded nine games with two or more blocks including a career-high six blocks vs. Crowley's Ridge. The sophomore has scored in double-figures 16 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 has led the team in scoring eight times and in rebounding a 14 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 thirteen games in 2018, have combined for 90 rebounds, 109 assists and 71 steals, while averaging a collective 18.5 points per game led by McWilliams' 13.1 points.
McWilliams per game scoring average is a Top-25 mark in the GAC. In addition, McWilliams has scored in double figures in 11 of the 13 games in 2018. Her 3.0 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 10.0.
This season, Djedjemel is averaging 3.1 assists per game and 1.7 steals per game. Her assists per game average ranks in the top 15 in the GAC and her steals per game mark ranks in the top 10.
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 ARKANSAS TECH
The Golden Suns enter the final week and a half of the regular season at 18-3 overall with a 14-3 record in Great American Conference play. Arkansas Tech is one of three teams that have already clinched a spot in the league tournament championship in early March.
Arkansas Tech come to Magnolia on Thursday and will feature one of the best all-around teams in the region as the Golden Suns rank in the top 3 of 13 major categories in the Great American Conference. Additionally, ATU ranks lower than sixth in just one category: free throw percentage (69.5%). Offensively, the Golden Suns average 78.8 points per game and allow the second fewest points to opponents at 65.2 to produce the league's top scoring margin at 13.6.
ATU shoots 43.0% from the floor and 35.2% from three-point range. Both shooting marks rank third in the GAC, while their defensive marks in opponent shooting from the floor (36.6%) ranks first and opponent shooting from range (32.4%) ranks second.
The top rebounding offense (45.2) in the league belongs to Arkansas Tech as the Golden Suns own one of the best rebounding margins at 7.5. ATU averages 3.4 blocks, 13.8 assists, and a league-leading 11.0 steals per game, while also owning the GAC's second-best turnover margin at 3.7.
Six players (Jayana Sanders, Lyrik Williams, Ke'vonshaye Stackhouse, Cheyenne North and Kylie Ladd) rank in the league's top-30 in scoring with the first three players scoring in double-figures led by Sanders' team-leading 14.5 points per game. North and Williams along with Ryann Goodsell rank in the top-20 in the league in rebounding with North's 8.9 rebounds per game ranking in the top 5. From the floor, Stackhouse and Sanders own the team's top two shooting marks which both rank in the top 15 in the league, while Ladd and Stackhouse rank in the top 15 in free throw percentage. Sanders leads the team in three-point percentage.
Ladd leads the team in assists per game at 3.5, boasts the GAC's highest assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.92 and owns a league-leading 3.2 steals per game, while North averages 2.7 blocks per game; a top three mark in the GAC.
COACH
Arkansas Tech is led by Dave Wilburs, who is in his eleventh season as the head coach of the Golden Suns Women's Basketball program. Wilburs has tallied a career-record at ATU of 134-45 entering the 2017-18 campaign and has Arkansas Tech to 18-3 overall and 14-3 in league play. The Golden Suns have clinched a spot in the upcoming GAC Tournament Championship marking the seventh-straight season that Tech will play in Bartlesville. Wilburs has twice led Tech to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II National Basketball Tournament and since 2011-12, he has led the Golden Suns to four GAC Regular Season Titles ('12, '13, '15, '16) and a pair of GAC Tournament Championships ('13, '16).
THE SERIES
Arkansas Tech leads the all-time series between the two programs 67-9, including a 30-6 mark in Magnolia. The last SAU win in the series came on January 29, 2015, in Magnolia with Southern Arkansas edging Tech 57-52. Prior to that victory, the Lady Muleriders' last win at home against the Golden Suns came on January 7, 2006 in an 11-point victory. That game marked the third-straight win over ATU for Southern Arkansas and the fourth win in five games dating back to January 2004. Recently, ATU has won 24 of the past 25 meetings dating back to February of 2006.
LAST TIME OUT | ARKANSAS TECH 73, SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 69
Arkansas Tech edged the Lady Muleriders 73-69 when the two programs met on January 13. Southern Arkansas held a 33-30 halftime lead, trailed by seven after three quarters, and was unable to complete the comeback despite a relentless effort by the Lady Muleriders in an attempt to beat Tech inside Tucker Coliseum for the first time since 2005.
Kimberly Crown recorded her fifth double-double of the season and led three other Lady Muleriders in double-figure scoring. Both teams struggled from beyond the arc making just seven three-point shots in 37 attempts. For the Lady Mulerider defense, it is the second game in a row in which they forced an opponent to shoot less than 15% from three-point range as Tech shot 14.3% (2-of-14) from range.
SCOUTING HARDING
The Lady Bisons begin the weekend in a three-way tie for fourth-place in the Great American Conference with an 8-9 record in league play. Ouachita and Southeastern Oklahoma also share an 8-9 conference mark. A tough start to the season saw Harding struggle to a 2-8 start in GAC play, while sitting around the bottom of the league standings. But as of late, the Lady Bisons, who treked to the Women's DII Final Four last season, have won six of their past seven games and have postioned themselves to make their seventh-straight trip to Bartlesville.
Harding owns a 9-3 mark in Searcy this season and since falling to the Lady Muleriders on the road in January, the Lady Bisons have posted a 7-3 mark.
Harding is one of GAC six teams averaging 70 or more points this season and own a scoring margin of 2.3, while allowing opponents to score an average of 68.0 points per game. The Lady Bisons own top five marks in the league in shooting percentage (43.0%) and opponent shooting percentage defense (38.5%). Harding ranks eighth in in the conference in three-point percentage at 32.1% and ranks 11th in free throw percentage at 67.4%. The Lady Bisons allow the highest opponent three-point percentage at 35.8%.
Harding boasts the highest rebounding margin in the league at 10.4 and owns the top rebounding defense at 31.8 per game. The team's 4.4 blocked shots and 14.4 assists both are in the top three marks in the respective categories. The Lady Bisons own the league's worst turnover margin at -4.2. Southern Arkansas will enter Saturday's matchup as one of the league's top teams in steals per game averaging 10.0 every time they hit floor.
Two players average in double-figure scoring for the Lady Bisons with Sydney Layrock averaging a team-high 11.6 points per game, while Kellie Lampo follows with 11.5 points per game. Lampo owns a top-ten mark in shooting percentage at 46.5% and Layrock joins Kennedy Cooper and Falan Miller as the team's best shooting threats from range with all three players averaging better than 34%. Layrock and Lampo are also the team's top rebounders as the duo combines to grab over 11 rebounds per outing.
Peyton Padgett is the team's top assister averaging 3.2 assists per game and owns a top-15 mark in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.3. Carissa Caples' blocks per game average of 0.8 is also a top-15 mark in the GAC.
COACH
The Lady Bisons are coached by Tim Kirby, who is in his 13th season as head coach at Harding and 25th season overall in Searcy after spending his first 12 years as an assistant to Jeff Morgan and the Harding Men's Basketball program. Entering this season, Kirby has amassed an 241-111 record and has led the program to eleven consecutive conference tournament berths. Under Kirby's direction, Harding claimed GAC regular-season championships in 2014, 2015, and 2017 while also capturing the GAC tournament championship in 2015 and 2017. In all three championship seasons, the Lady Bisons appeared in the NCAA Division II National Tournament and last season made a run to the NCAA Division II Women's Final Four.
THE SERIES
Harding is 43-21 all-time against Southern Arkansas, including a 23-8 mark at home inside Rhodes-Reaves Field House since 1984. Since the 2007-08 season, Harding is 19-3 when facing the Lady Muleriders with two of those three losses coming against current SAU Women's head coach
Julio Pacheco. The lone Harding loss to Southern Arkansas at home came on February 18 as the Lady Muleriders topped the Lady Bisons 71-70 for their first win in Searcy since February 12, 2004.
LAST TIME OUT | SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 65, HARDING 58
The Lady Mulerider's employed a solid defensive effort along with a career-high 33-points from
Sue Key to defeat Harding, 65-58, on January 11. The win was the first for SAU over Harding inside the W.T. Watson Center since January 14, 2010. SAU's largest lead of the night ( 17) came in the third quarter as Key produced a personal 12-0 scoring run, including three-straight three-point buckets, to help extend the Lady Mulerider lead out to a comfortable 50-33 advantage. Key registered six of SAU's seven 3-point shots made in the game and her career-high in total points were at the time the most by a Lady Mulerider since
Rosa Bryant scored 40 against Southeastern Oklahoma on December 5, 2015.
