MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Lady Muleriders basketball team rallied back from a 39-48 deficit at the half after scoring 21 points in the third quarter to cut it down to two points at the end of the frame, and then grabbed a brief lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Reddies outscored SAU (21-10) in that frame to pull away from the Lady Muleriders and secure the eventual victory, 83-70, on Thursday night inside the W.T. Watson Center.
The Lady Muleriders got down to a 17-point deficit at 2:53 in the second quarter, and ended up cutting it down to nine points by the end of that frame on an 11-3 run that saw
Sue Key tally nine of those points in just two minutes to bring the Lady Muleriders within single digits, 39-48.
In the third quarter, the Lady Muleriders outscored the Reddies for the first time all game (21-14) to cut their deficit down to just two points at the end of the frame.
In that sequence, the Lady Muleriders engineered an 11-3 run after being down 49-59 with 4:37 left in the frame. Back-to-back buckets from
Kimberly Crown and Key cut the deficit down to just six, 59-53, at 3:43 on the clock. At 3:29, the Reddies added a point on a free throw make, and the Lady Muleriders quickly answered as they tacked on five consecutive points to come within a two-point deficit at 2:05 in the frame, 58-60.
The Reddies got back up to a four-point lead on a pair of successful free throw buckets at 1:48 in that frame, but Key would bring the Lady Muleriders within two with just 34 seconds on the clock after she connected with a fast break bucket in the paint, 60-62.
SAU quickly tied the game early-on in the final quarter after
Ramiah Henry connected with a layup to make it 62-all. Within the following minute and a half after that, the lead changed four times as the Lady Muleriders grabbed the lead two of those times, but the Reddies engineered a 16-2 run at 6:22 that shifted the momentum back to Henderson's side and allowed them to secure the eventual win over SAU at an 83-70 final decision.
OF NOTE:
- Three Lady Muleriders scored in double figures as Key led the team with 27 points, Crown followed with 19, and Henry had 14 points
- Crown added 14 total boards in the contest to secure her 10th double-double of the season
- SAU outshot HSU from the charity stripe (72.7%-68.0%) as they made 16-of-22 free throws
- The Lady Muleriders also outscored Henderson in second chance points (15-4) and points off turnovers (14-10)