MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Mulerider Women's basketball team enters this week's matchups in search of their second Great American conference win following a split road stint last week where they earned their first conference win of the season against Northwestern Oklahoma. The Muleriders' dominant scoring offense greatly tops the conference and ranks second in the nation at an average 89.8 points per game, but their conference-trailing 79.1 defensive scoring average has served as their Achilles heel thus far.
The Muleriders continue to lead the nation with their average 39.8 three-point attempts per game. The team's dominant three-point percentage took a blow their past two games, shooting in the 20% range after five games shooting in the 30% range. Despite their completion percentage taking a hit, they continue to lead the nation at 13.4 three pointers per game. Seniors Mychala Linzy and Jessica Jones have both recorded 30 made threes to rank first in the GAC, while junior transfer Addy Tremie (21) and freshman Kylie Minter (20) have recorded 20 or more each. Linzy leads three-point percentage at an impressive shooting clip of 46.9% which leads the conference and ranks 11th in the nation.
Senior Diamond Morris continues to top the Mulerider leaderboards, averaging a team-leading 12.3 points, 11.4 field goals, 4.5 free throws, 6.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Senior teammates Linzy (12.0) and Kylie Warren (10.5) are additionally recording double digit scoring averages. Both Linzy and Tremie recorded double digit scoring figures in both games of last week's Oklahoma stint while three other Muleriders breached double digits in either game.
East Central
Southern Arkansas brings a 5-7 overall (1-5 GAC) record into their Thursday night matchup against East Central while the Tigers enter with a 3-7 (0-6 GAC) record. ECU has lost their last six games to have earned their 0-6 conference record and have yet to record a win since November 26. Both teams will be hungry on Thursday as they seek to crawl out of the bottom third of the conference rankings.
Southern Arkansas has lost its' last three outings against East Central with two being at home. In the 2021-22 season, ECU won by just two points in both the January and February matchups, outscoring the Riders 61-59 and 84-82. SAU last beat ECU 83-75 in January 2020 where Warren led team scoring with 20 points and five made threes. The Mulerider's most recent victory at home versus the Tigers was in November 2016 where they won 54-48.
ECU returned eight athletes from their 2021-22 roster that finished 12-10 in GAC play. Returner Kate Ogle received the GAC Newcomer of the Year title while teammate Mackenzie Crusoe led the 21-22 team in scoring, rebounds and steals. In the previous season, Crusoe put up double-digit scoring figures in both games against SAU including a 20-point outing in January 2022.
East Central ranks just below SAU in the conference with a 32.6 three-point percentage, but have made just over half as many threes as the Muleriders. Additionally, Southern Arkansas is holding opponents to a conference-low three-point field goal of 25.3% while ECU lands on the other side of the spectrum and holds opponents to a conference-high 34.9 three-point percentage. The Muleriders should be able to capitalize on ECU's flaw and take advantage of their home crowd to continue their dominant scoring from three.
Southeastern Oklahoma State
Southeastern enters the week a single game above the Muleriders and will face UAM on Thursday in Monticello before making their way to Magnolia for the Saturday afternoon matchup. Southeastern won their most recent matchup against Harding in a close 65-63 decision. Both SEOSU and SAU had close games with Harding, but while the Savage Storm was able to come away with a victory, the Muleriders were beat by two points in overtime. Another two-point game for the Muleriders was against Arkansas Tech who recently beat SEOSU 57-38 on January 5.
SAU beat Southeastern 64-60 in their most recent matchup in February 2022 which serves as their sole victory over SEOSU in their last seven meetings. In the February win, Morris and Linzy combined for 18 points while Morris led team scoring (13 pts) in the team's other matchup against Southeastern last season.
The Savage Storm returned five of their top seven scorers from the 2021-22 season and welcomed in eight newcomers on top of their eight returners. Briley Moon represents one of the top returners with a second team All-GAC selection following a season where she averaged 13.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Moon led team scoring in their matchup with SAU in January 2022 at 27 points are recorded 13 points in the February game. Returning for the Savage Storm additionally is Kamryn Cantwell who combined for 46 points against the Muleriders in the previous season.
Moon currently ranks sixth in the GAC with her average 16.4 points per game while teammate Caitlin Kobiske ranks sixth with 7.5 rebounds per game. Kobiske has averaged the most points in Southeastern's last three outings and was a single point shy of 20 in their most recent game.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 pm on Thursday and 1 p.m. on Saturday. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
