Magnolia, Ark. – Southern Arkansas fought their way to overtime play in the Monday night 71-65 loss against UT Tyler inside the W.T. Watson Center after the Patriots held the lead for most of the night. Southern Arkansas' overtime berth was thanks to the team-leading scorer, senior Diamond Morris, who sunk two free throws to tie the game with less than 30 seconds in regulation time.
Morris also led the Muleriders with 13 rebounds and six assists on the night to record her first double-double of the season. Junior Addy Tremie found her way to double digits as well, recording 13 points and was three for eight in three-point attempts while making 100% of her free throws.
The first quarter was quite the indication of what a close game the following 45 minutes were about to be. Off the bat, the Muleriders found themselves trailing 2-7, but cut the deficit to just two points a made three and jumpshot by senior Kenzie Ezekiel. When SAU found themselves down 10-17 in the final two and a half minutes of the first quarter, they found hope in Morris and freshman Kylie Minter to cut Patriot lead to just four points going into the second quarter.
The Muleriders went on a 14-0 run in the third quarter to come back from a six-point deficit and acquire the lead for the first time in the contest. The dominant run was highlighted by back-to-back-to-back threes by juniors Mychala Linzy (1) and Tremie (3). SAU outscored UT Tyler 19-15 in the third and shot 45% from behind the arc and 100% from the free throw line to be their most successful quarter of the night. The Patriots regained the lead over the Muleriders by the end of the quarter, but only held the Muleriders off by two points.
A collective 18 points were all that were let up in the second quarter in the gritty matchup. The first four baskets of the quarter were threes, two from UT Tyler, and one a piece from Morris and Linzy. Morris landed the final basket for the Muleriders at 4:49 which also served as the final basket for either team in the second quarter.
Southern Arkansas started off the final regulation quarter with a bang seen in a tree pointer from Minter. Minters' basket was followed by a jumper from Morris and a layup from junior Braydyn Hill to give SAU a five-point lead. The Patriots regained the lead through the effort of multiple layups and made free throws, but the Muleriders remained on the heels of the Tyler team. Southern Arkansas found themselves down 53-55 with 29 seconds left on the clock and Morris lined up to shoot two from the foul line.
The teams entered overtime tied at 55 points before Morris began scoring in the final five minutes of play with a three pointer. The first half of overtime saw a back-and-forth battle between the teams, with the lead changing multiple times before tying up at 63 points. From there, the Patriots went on an 8-2, turning their fate against the Muleriders to wrap up play on two made free throws.
Destini Whitehead led scoring for the Patriots, successfully connecting on 58% of her shots including 4-5 from the free throw line. Whitehead was a huge part of the UT Tyler defense that forced the Mulerider to make most of their shots from deep and only allowed 14 points in the paint. Martina Machalova produced 13 points for the Patriots, successfully making seven of eight attempted free throws, and Lovisa Hevinder posted 12 points on the night alongside eight rebounds. Montse Gutierrez wrapped up double digit scoring for UT Tyler at 11 points.
The Muleriders will open up GAC play on Thursday, December 1 at Henderson and will return to the W.T. to take on Harding on Saturday, December 1. Tickets and live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
