MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas is riding high after a win last Saturday against Southeastern Oklahoma and looks to secure another win on Thursday as Henderson State travels to Magnolia. SAU will enter the matchup with a 6-8 record (2-6 GAC) while Henderson brings an 8-6 record (5-3 GAC) to Magnolia. A Thursday afternoon win would serve as the first back-to-back conference win for the Muleriders this season and would improve the Rider clan to a winning record at home, as they enter the matchup 4-4 inside the W.T. Watson Center.
Following the Thursday matchup, the Mulerider will head to Searcy where they will play the first of four road games that will wrap up January play. Harding enters the week with an 11-4 record (7-1 GAC) and will face Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia on Thursday before they return home to take on the Muleriders on Saturday.
Senior Mychala Linzy continues to dominate from three, making five in the Muleriders' last matchup and leading the GAC with a 45.1 three-point percentage. She leads the Muleriders with 37 made threes, just two shy of her 2021-22 total with 14 regular season games to go. Senior Jessica Jones has breached the 30 threes mark as well, making 33 of her own while three other Riders have surpassed 20. Junior transfer Addy Tremie has made 25, true freshman Kylie Minter has made 24 and senior Kylie Warren has recorded 23. Not only is Southern Arkansas making a lot of threes, they are also defending three and holding opponents to a conference-low 25.5 three-point percentage. The Riders combine to have made 196 threes to average a GAC-leading 14.0 per game and stands alongside Henderson as the only two GAC teams to have recorded more than 100 threes.
Ashley Farrar leads Reddie scoring from three with 30 made at a 38% shooting clips while leading team scoring at an average 19.79 per game. Her scoring average ranks second in the GAC, just 0.1 points behind the conference leader. Two other Reddies are averaging double digit scoring figures per game in Abbie Jiles (12.29 ppg) and Gracie Raby (10.50 ppg). The Muleriders saw the strength of Farrar in their matchup earlier in the season where the senior guard recorded a season-high 44 points and 15 rebounds.
The Arkansas teams faced off on December 1 in Arkadelphia where Henderson won 98-90 in overtime. The Riders are 2-4 in matchups against Henderson since the 2020-21 season, with both Mulerider wins coming from inside the WT. Senior Diamond Morris led Mulerider scoring in the December clash, posting 23 points while Braydyn Hill recorded a season high 19 and Linzy 18. Linzy went 3-6 from beyond the arc to represent more than half of the Mulerider made threes in the matchup. SAU made a season-low 5 threes in the December game, but are currently coming off a win where they recorded more than 20 made threes at a season-high three-point shooting clip of 44.7%.
Henderson has won their last two conference games against Northwestern Oklahoma (72-64) and Southwestern Oklahoma (85-65). Prior to those wins last week, the Reddies had lost three GAC games in a row to Harding, Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene. Farrar combined to make 49 points between their last two wins, including 30 in their win last Saturday. Four other Reddies recorded double digit scoring figures in their pervious two games including Gracie Raby who recorded 18 last Thursday and 11 on Saturday.
The Lady Bison and Mulerider last clashed on December 3 where the Muleriders were handed their second overtime loss. The 103-105 loss in Magnolia serves as the highest-scoring conference game of the 2022-23 season thus far and was the only time the Lady Bison breached the 100 point mark this year. Sage Hawley dominated the Muleriders as the 6'4 junior dropped a casual 43 points. Jacie Evans (21), Rory Geer (21) and Aubrey Isbell (12) also recorded double digits for the Lady Bison. The Mulerider bench did what they could to offset Hawley's dominant performance putting up 64 points piloted by Jones who recorded 24 points with seven made threes and Minter who notched a season-high 21 points. Tremie and Morris led scoring for the starters and Tremie notched 14 points and Morris recorded a dozen of her own.
Harding's scoring margin ranks just above the Muleriders' 10.0 at 10.3. HU and SAU rely on completely different tactics when it comes to offensive scoring, as the Muleriders lead the conference with 3-point field goals made, just five shy of 200, and Harding trails with 62 at an average 4.1 per game. Although Harding may not excel from three, the Lady Bison lead the conference with their impressive winning record and rank second with a 43.2 team field goal percentage. The Muleriders can hope to capitalize on their conference leading 6.71 turnover margin as the Bison are 11th in the conference with their -1.67 margin. Hawley leads the conference with an average10.7 rebounds and 19.9 points per game and is a single point shy of 300 on the season.
Harding most recently defeated Southern Nazarene at home to improve to a 4-2 record at home. Their solo conference loss was served by Southeastern Oklahoma in Durant. Isbell and Evans recorded 21 points each against SNU while Hawley recorded 15 and Geer a dozen.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 pm inside the WT on Thursday and 5:30 in Searcy on Saturday. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
