Magnolia, Ark. - The SAU Women's Basketball team closes their season this weekend with a pair of home matches against Oklahoma opposition. The Muleriders host Southern Nazarene on Thursday before closing the book on their season Saturday against Oklahoma Baptist. The last time the Muleriders played these two teams, they lost in Shawnee to Oklahoma Baptist 67-47 before traveling to Bethany and losing that contest 60-50. 

The Crimson Storm are in the midst of a battle in the middle of the GAC playoff stnadings to determine the two through five seeds. The Crimson Storm are 15-11 on the season and 14-6 in GAC play. They currently sit in fourth place in the standings, in a three-way tie with East Central and Harding. The Crimson Storm are in somewhat of a hot streak currently, having won ten of their last 12 games, including their aforementioned win over the Muleriders on January 26th. Their only two losses over that stretch came at the hands of Northwestern and Southwestern Oklahoma at home. Alexus Jones was the high scorer in their last meeting with the Muleriders, scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds as the Crimson Storm made a second-half comeback to beat the Muleriders. As a team, the Crimson Storm lead the conference in blocked shots, and rank in the top five in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense and rebounding. Offensively, they are led by Adrienne Berry. Berry is averaging 11.4 points per game, 21st-best in the conference, and averages 3.5 assists per game, sixth in the GAC. Abby Niehaus leads the Crimson Storm on the boards, grabbing 6.5 per contest, and leads the conference in blocked shots at 3.8 per game. Following their game against the Muleriders, the Crimson Storm will close their regular season out in Monticello against the Blossoms. 

The Bison are 10-16 on the season and 6-14 in conference play. They have been eliminated from postseason contention, and this game will be the last one for Autumn Avina. Avina is currently fifth in the conference for scoring at 16.1 points per game, as well as grabbing 6.4 rebounds per game. Avina leads the conference with 8.2 assists per game and steals with three per game. Avina has played the second-most minutes this season, spending 919 minutes of a possible 1,040 minutes on the floor for the Bison. The last time the Bison and the Muleriders met, Victoria Blankenship led the Bison effort as she scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Blankenship is seventh in scoring with 15.6 points per game and third in rebounding with 8.1 per game. 

The Muleriders enter this weekend on an 11-game losing streak, and are 2-22 overall on the season and 1-19 in conference play. Thursday will be Fan Appreciation Night for the games against Southern Nazarene and Saturday will be Senior Night for the senior of both the men's and women's basketball teams. The women's team has two seniors, Olivia McWilliams and Alyssa Crase, that will be honored in between games. McWilliams is in her second season at Southern Arkansas, having averaged 9.2 points per game, 3.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Crase, in her first season in Magnolia, has averaged 4.2 points per game, while leading the team in rebounding with 4.9 boards per contest and field goal percentage, shooting 55.3 percent.