SHAWNEE, Okla. – The Muleriders put up quite the fight in Shawnee tonight but weren't able to accomplish their attempted comeback to lose 73-64 to Oklahoma Baptist. Southern Arkansas falls to 4-8 in the conference with hopes of bouncing back on Saturday against Southern Nazarene.
Mychala Linzy led Mulerider team scoring with 15 points from five made threes. The Senior led a final push in the fourth quarter, making four threes to contribute 12 of the 16 Mulerider points. Freshman Brooklin Brown recorded double digits with 14 points and senior Jessica Jones scored 12, her most since December 19. Freshman Marlee Bright recorded four steals between the Mulerider's 17 forced turnovers.
SAU attempted their most threes since December 19 and landed 15 to record double digits after making less than ten their last three games. The Muleriders may have improved their threes, but they did not compare to OBU from behind the arc tonight. Oklahoma Baptist made six threes at a shooting clip of 54.5%. Not only did they shoot more than 50% from three, they also recorded a 54.7 field goal percentage.
OBU's Jaedyn Getman started scoring with a made layup before Brooklin Brown immediately retaliated with a made three. Brown's three gained the Muleriders their only lead of the game and stood as the solo points from the Muleriders as OBU went on a 7-0 run. The Muleriders broke up Bison scoring with two made free throws and a three from freshman Kylie Minter before OBU went on another 7-0 run to gain their first of many double-digit leads. The 11-point OBU advantage was cut to five points following back-to-back threes from Jones and Linzy.
Southern Arkansas cut the OBU lead to five points and even reduced it to two-points as sophomore Jada Gasaway sunk a three in the first minute of the second quarter. Once again, the Bisons capitalized on a run, this time earning a nine-point lead from a 9-2 run. Jones attempted to reduce the Bison lead, and cut it to four points with a made three, but the Riders proceeded to go on almost a three-minute scoreless streak. Junior Addy Tremie broke up said dry spell with two made free throws and made the finals basket of the quarter for the Muleriders with 3:33 to play in the half.
Brown started both halves with made threes, sinking her second of the game in the first minute of the third quarter. For the first time in the game, the Muleriders seemed to gain traction against the home team, outscoring the Bison 16-7 in the first four and a half minutes of the third quarter. A made Brown layup and free throw put the Riders just a three shy of the Bison, but SAU failed to capitalize on the opportunity and allowed OBU to outscore SAU 13-3 to finish out the quarter. Southern Arkansas kept up with the Bison for the first time in the contest, both scoring 22 points in the third.
The Muleriders continued their offensive streak and outscored the Bison 18-15 in the final quarter but were unable to make up for their lack of scoring in the first half. The Bison held a 12-point lead going into the fourth quarter that they extended to 14 points with a made jumper at the start of the final quarter. Linzy scored 67% of the Mulerider points with 12 from four threes. Hill, Warren and Morris all contributed two points a piece in the final push from the Muleriders on Thursday night.
SNU beat the Blossoms 59-46 tonight and bring a 10-1 GAC record and a three game win streak into the Saturday Matchup in Bethany, Oklahoma. The teams will tipoff at 1 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
