MAGNOLIA, Ark. – With just two games left in the regular season and just three spots left at the GAC Basketball Championship, the Southern Arkansas Women's Basketball team (12-14, 8-12 GAC) needs wins this week over Ouachita and Arkansas Tech. Ouachita (12-12, 9-11 GAC) will come to Magnolia on Thursday, February 23 for the Muleriders' Senior Night, Community Night and Student Appreciation night with basketball action staring at 5:30 p.m. inside the W.T. Watson Center. Southern Arkansas will make the trip on Saturday, February 25 for their final game against Arkansas Tech (13-11, 11-9 GAC) at 1 p.m. in Russellville. Live coverage links will be available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
The Mulerider Men (17-9, 13-7 GAC) stand as the number two team of the five that have clinched a spot at next week's GAC Championship tournament. They will take on the #9 Tigers (10-14, 8-12 GAC) and the #4 Wonder Boys (14-12, 12-8 GAC) following the conclusion of the women's games of Thursday and Saturday. Tech has clinched already but Ouachita seeks one of the three final spots at the GAC tournament.
12 Mulerider Student Athletes will be recognized during Senior Night at Thursday night's home matches. Seniors Mychala Linzy, Jerica Bell, Jessica Jones, Kylie Warren and Brayden Hill will be recognized for their efforts in a Mulerider uniform before the women's 5:30 tipoff. Kris Wyche, Blake Rogers, LaTreavin Black, Conner Harvey, Brock Schreiner, Jessie Davis Jr. and Logan Bradley will be recognized in between the women's and men's game.
Ouachita Women
A win over Ouachita would serve the rivals with the same record, a record that would rank the highest of the six teams with hopes of making the tournament. The teams faced off in Arkadelphia in December where the win fell in favor of the home team. The Tigers took the matchup 93-83 to serves as their highest scoring game against a GAC opponent. The December game saw a season-high 25 points from senior Kylie Warren, stemming from four made threes throughout her team-leading 31 points. Seniors Mychala Linzy (13) and Diamond Morris (11) posted double digit scoring figures as well with Linzy making five field goals at a perfect 100% shooting clip. Makayla Miller recorded dominant scoring for the Tigers, matching Warren's 20+ points effort and posting 27 of her own. Miller has recorded 20 or more points in three games, including the teams most recent effort against SOSU. Four additional Tigers recorded double digits against the Muleriders in December. The Arkadelphia team made just a third of the threes the Muleriders did, but made up for it with 12 more field goals than SAU. Southern Arkansas saw 71 points in the final three quarters versus OUA's 64, but a 12-point first quarter stunted their comeback effort.
Ouachita posts a two-game win streak, recording victories over East Central and SOSU last week. The team recorded their second-best shooting clip (54%) against the GAC opponent. The figure is second only to their 56.5% clip against SAU in December. Two Tigers recorded 20+ scoring figures in last week's Southeastern game with three scoring double digits while four dipped into double digits against ECU.
Ouachita's scoring offense is second only to Southern Arkansas. While SAU averages 79.5 ppg, OUA averages 71.3 to be the only other team posting an average above 70. Both GAC teams post scoring defenses that rank in the bottom third of the conference, but SAU's numbers combine for a third-ranking +5.3 margin while OUA stands at sixth with their +2.6 scoring margin. The Tigers are shooting just over 5% better than SAU, recording a conference-best 45.6% field goal percentage. Though they rank the highest with their FG%, their 41.6% opponent FG% ranks tenth. SAU leads the conference's average threes per game (12.6 per game), but OUA just edges SAU's number two ranked 34.9% three-point percentage with their own 36.5%. While both teams post high percentages, the Tigers have made double digit threes just five times while SAU has completed the feat 18 times and has made twenty or more threes five times.
Three Tigers are averaging double digits this season with Laney Mears leading the effort with 14.3 ppg which ranks in the top-10 in the conference. Miller just trails at 14.1 and Madeleine wraps it up with 11.3 points per game. Ouachita's Grayson Fairless posts the conference's best field goal percentage, making 86 baskets at a 57.3% clip. Mears has the second-best three-point field goal percentage (44.1%) with teammate Heidi Robinson ranking in the top ten as well (6th, 38.9). Mears is averaging 3.0 threes per game to rank first in the conference, sitting just a spot above Mychala Linzy's 2.8. Miller has provided 115 assists through her 24 games to average 4.8 per game and rank number one in the GAC.
Arkansas Tech Women
Arkansas Tech stands as one of five teams to have clinched a berth to the GAC Basketball Championships in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The Golden Suns will play Henderson State in Arkadelphia on Thursday before hosting SAU at the Tucker Coliseum on Saturday. Tech has lost their last four games, dropping to SWOSU, NWOSU, Harding and SNU. They took the #2 Harding to overtime where they suffered a four-point loss in Searcy.
The Golden Suns and Muleriders last met in December resulting in an 89-87 Arkansas Tech win. The tight matchup saw a 23-point effort from senior Jessica Jones and double digit figured from Linzy (17) and Warren (15). The Muleriders have shot lower than 40% in less than half of their 26 games with one of those occurring against Tech. The team's 38.3% saw 31 baskets with 22 of them as threes. The 22 threes stand as the most the Muleriders have made in a single game this season. Jones led the three-point effort, making a season-high 7 while Linzy made five.
The Tech women post the third best scoring offense in the conference (69.9 avg/g), making for a nice weekend of basketball featuring the top three GAC scoring teams. ATU stands right in the middle of the pack with their average 65.1 opponent points. The Golden Suns are recording a 40.8% team field goal percentage while holding opponents to 35.9% from the floor. The team posts the worst three-point field goal percentage (24.5%) and allows opposing teams to shoot threes at 33%. Tech is averaging a conference-leading 4.46 blocked shots per game.
Jalei Oglesby leads conference scoring, standing as the solo Great American Conference athlete to average 20 or more points per game. Oglesby is averaging 20.3 ppg at a 51.4% clip and additionally is averaging the second most rebounds per game in the conference (8.7). Oglesby's impressive scoring numbers stand as just one of two double digits figures. Kaley Shipman is averaging 15.5 ppg while four additional Golden Suns are averaging five or more points. Shipman leads team three-point shooting with 5.0 per game at a 27.5% clip.
Ouachita Men
Ouachita has lost their past six games, dropping to SOSU, ECU, HSU, SWOSU, NWOSU and SNU during the span. The Tigers are 3-8 on the road.
In Southern Arkansas' 89-67 win over Ouachita in December six Muleriders posted double digits with junior Jerry Carraway Jr. coming off the bench and dropping 15 points to lead team scoring. Black posted 11 rebounds alongside 12 points to record one of his six season double doubles. SAU made 34 baskets at their best shooting clip of the season (58.6%). The team also recorded season-high numbers from three, shooting 54.5% from beyond the arc. LaQuan Butler Jr. led Tiger scoring with 17 points while Ma'Darius Hobson recorded 10 off the bench.
Ouachita posts the league's tenth best scoring offense, averaging 70.0 ppg, which combines with their average 72.8 allowed points for a -2.8 scoring margin. The Arkadelphia is allowing teams to shoot 47.4% and 38.2 % from three, figures that both rank 11th in the conference. Additionally, they post an 11th-ranking -2.8 rebounding margin.
Butler leads season scoring, averaging 15.4 points per game, a figure that ranks sixth in the GAC, while Hobson post an average 14.0 ppg. Tyler Haynes averages the third most rebounds in the conference (7.3) and posts the teams best field goal percentage (58.2%). Butler and SAU's Kris Wyche are both averaging top-ten three-point figures, both averaging 2.3 per game.
Arkansas Tech Men
The Tech men rank just a solo game behind the #2 Muleriders. The teams will battle it out in Russellville on Saturday to determine seeds at the GAC Championships, as both have clinched a spot in the tournament. This past week, ATU beat NWOSU and SWOSU after starting the week out with a 67-91 loss to the #12 Harding Bison.
The teams faced off in December for a matchup that concluded in a 62-53 final in favor of SAU. The Muleriders held the Wonder Boys to a 30.2% shooting clip, their lowest of the season. Sophomore Carel Ray Jr. led SAU scoring with 14 points while Wyche (11) and Schreiner (10) posted double digit numbers as well. ATU's leading scorer led Tech scoring in the December matchup, posting 13 points. Taelon Peter is averaging 14.7 points per game and recorded a combined 75 points in the team's last three games. The sophomore averages 2.3 threes and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Tech posts the second-worst scoring offense and shooting clip in the conference, averaging 66.8 points per game at a 43.9% clip. What Tech lacks in their offense, they make up in their defenses ability to hold opponents to 42.6% and allow only an average 66.4 ppg. The Wonder Boys are the worst shooting team from three, posting the conferences only sub-30% three-point field goal percentage (28.5%).
