Magnolia, Ark. - The addition of eight new athletes in the Mulerider Women's Basketball program begs the question: Is this a revived team? Southern Arkansas finished the previous season 13-15 overall and 8-14 in conference play, just out of contention for the GAC Championships. The team of eight returners and eight newcomers under the direction of fifth-year head coach, Adam Collins, heads to Fayette, Iowa for a pair of contests at the GAC/MIAA Conference Challenge with hopes of setting a standard for the season. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
Southern Arkansas opens the season with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off against Upper Iowa University on Friday and will meet Lincoln University of Missouri at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The Muleriders carry a 16-player roster to Iowa which includes six of the team's top eight scorers from the 2021-2022 season in Diamond Morris, Kylie Warren, Jessica Jones, Kenzie Ezekiel, Mychala Linzy and Jerica Bell.
The Muleriders will once again benefit from the services of senior Morris who posted the second most points for the team last year and the most of all the returners. Senior Warren will be back for her fifth year after averaging 9.4 points per game and recording 121 total rebounds in the 2021-22 season. Jones, Ezekiel, Linzy, and Bell return for their senior year following a 2021-22 season where Jones averaged 8.2 per game, Ezekiel averaged 8.2 points, Linzy averaged 7.7 per game and Bell averaged 6.8 points per game.
Last season, SAU ranked eighth in DII in scoring offense at 79.8 ppg. The Mulerider Women ranked ninth in three-point field goals per game (8.8), ranked 10th nationally in three-point field goals attempted (785) and ranked 14th in three-point field goals made (247). The team's 22.75 turnovers forced per night ranked 10th in DII, while the team's per game steals rate of 12.6 ranked tenth and the 352 total steals landed at 13th in the country. SAU grabbed 17.7 offensive boards per game which ranked 4th nationally in 2021-22.
Collins reinforced his team with eight new athletes in the offseason to make the Mulerider squad a even 50/50 between newcomers and returners. Among the new Muleriders are four-year transfers junior guard Addy Tremie from Centenary College (La.) and sophomore guard Chloe Wilbanks from the University of Louisiana- Monroe.
Upper Iowa
* The Peacocks finished with a 7-19 record in the 2021-22 season
* Upper Iowa will be under the direction of first-year head coach Justin Maass and first-year assistant coach Taylor Vasa
* UIU returns Lydia Haack, a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Player to Watch after averaging 12.4 points and 3.9 assists per game last season
* SAU and UIU have faced each other twice in the past, with the most recent matchup resulting in a 102-96 Mulerider win on November 13, 2021
Lincoln University
* Lincoln University finished the 2021-22 season with a 5-23 record
* The Tigers return eight players from their 2021-22 squad, including their top two leading scorers in Le'Yanna McGinnis and Kelsey Mitchell
* Third-year head coach Drea Mize was named "Missouri's Best" at her position in the 2023 edition of Missouri's Best Magazine
* The teams post a 2-2 record in matchup history with the latest matchup on November 12, 2021 coming as a 96-63 Southern Arkansas victory
