BETHANY, Okla. – Southern Arkansas found themselves with a nine-point lead over the conference-leading Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm but fell short in the fourth quarter to lose 74-75. The Muleriders fall to 4-9 in conference play while Southern Nazarene improves to 11-1. Southern Arkansas shot 29-55 to record a season-high field goal shooting clip of 52.7%.
Senor Jessica Jones shot 83.3% from three and led Mulerider scoring with 18 points, her most since December 17. Three other Muleriders recorded double digit scoring figures. Freshman Brooklin Brown scored 15 points to post double-digit scoring figures in the last three games. Seniors Mychala Linzy and Diamond Morris both recorded a dozen points with Linzy scoring all 12 downtown.
SAU had yet to find their footing from three in the first quarter as ten of their 13 points were from inside the arc. The Crimson Storm commanded the first quarter, scoring 20 points while they held SAU to 13 points. The Muleriders flipped the script in the second quarter, outscoring SNU 21-20. Southern Arkansas started the quarter off on a 9-0 run with Jones making a three and layups back-to-back-to-back by Morris. The Crimson Storm retaliated during a 12-3 run with the only Mulerider points from a three by Mychala Linzy. Southern Nazarene found themselves with a seven-point lead, but Warren and Linzy made back-to-back threes to sit just a single point behind the Crimson Storm. Warren wrapped up Mulerider scoring at half with another three and SNU scored eight points to lead 40-34.
Morris started the second half with a layup that the Crimson Storm duplicated on their end of the court. SNU notched a three before Jones hit two of her own to cut the Southern Nazarene lead to just three points. The Storm led a 9-7 run before a three from Jones put the Muleriders just two points shy of the Storm creating an opportunity to turn a four-point play. Jones made the free throw to sink her 16th point of the game and 13th of the quarter. Brown's three pointer allowed the Muleriders to take the lead for the first time since the second quarter. Once again, SAU capitalized on a SNU foul, turning a layup from Brown into a three point play that stretched the Mulerider's lead to six points with just over two minutes left in the third. Brown showed no signs of slowing down , forcing a block from behind as the Crimson Storm tried to respond to her previous three points. SAU allowed just a single SNU point in the last five minutes of the third quarter, racking up the points to gain a nine-point lead going into the final quarter of play.
SNU opened the fourth quarter with a 13-3 run, taking the lead from the Muleriders to have a one-point advantage with 4:30 left. The Crimson Storm defense left the Muleriders scoreless for over four minutes before Brown made a layup to advance to a one-point lead over the Storm. SNU once again took that one-point lead after securing two free throws. Jones notched a layup to take the single point lead back for Southern Arkansas and Brown made a three to extend the Rider advantage to four points. SNU made a layup and rebounded their own free throw, making another layup to tie the game 74-74. SNU defense put pressure on the Riders, not allowing them to score on their next possession and regaining the ball with just under 30 seconds to play. SNU went to the foul line with 20 seconds of play remaining and two free throw opportunities. Monaghan sunk one and took a one-point lead as the Riders regained possession of the ball with 20.6 seconds left on the clock, but the SNU defense was too tough, and the Riders were unable to make a basket.
Southern Arkansas will return home to the W.T. to take on Southwestern Oklahoma. The teams will tipoff at 5:30 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
