DURANT, Okla. – The Southern Arkansas Women's Basketball team suffered their largest loss of the season in an 88-53 decision in Durant on Thursday night. The loss represents both the lowest scoring game for the Muleriders this season and highest scoring game for the Savage Storm. The victory for SOSU also allowed the team to record their first back-to-back GAC victories of the season and improves the Oklahoma team to 4-12. Southern Arkansas falls to 6-10.
Senior Diamond Morris led Mulerider scoring with 12 points followed by senior Bradyn Hill and junior Addy Tremie who both recorded eight points. Morris also led the team with six steals and seven rebounds. For only the seventh time this season, the Muleriders recorded single digits from three, making nine baskets from behind the arc. The Riders also shot under .300 for just the third time this season. Southern Arkansas allowed the Storm to shoot at a 66% clip, their best of the season by far.
Southern Arkansas struggled off the bat as they fouled three times in the first three minutes and allowed the Southeastern to outscore them 7-2 during that span. Morris sunk the first three for the Muleriders at 7:02 after three prior SAU attempts and cut the SOSU lead to just two points. The Muleriders took advantage of a Savage Storm turnover as they turned a missed three into a made layup as Diamond Morris snagged the rebound and made a fast break shot to tie the game at 6:23. Southeastern edged the Muleriders following Morris' back-to-back points, making three baskets in the span of a minute. A steal from Moon allowed another Southeastern bucket, gaining SOSU a seven point lead. They extended their lead to double digits as Kobiske made back-to-back baskets. SOSU proceeded to add another two points to the lead and finished their run of 14 unanswered points. Morris worked to make up the difference as she sunk a three before she forced a Southeastern turnover and took the ball to the rim to cut the Southeastern lead back down to single digits. The Storm finished off first quarter scoring with a free throw and a three with five seconds on the clock to extend their lead to 13 points entering the second quarter.
The Savage Storm started off the quarter with yet another made three that started a 9-2 run that spanned over the first two and a half minutes. Morris notched two free throws before a made Brooklin Brown layup that represented the first points by someone other than Morris or Hill in the 13 minutes of play in Durant. Jones added her name to the Mulerider scoring list with a three fed to her by Bright. A three from Tremie would represent the first points in a 10-0 run that included baskets from Tremie, Kylie Warren and Jerica Bell. The offensive spurt would cut the Southeastern lead to ten points. SOSU concluded the second quarter the same way they did the first. A made three with just over 30 seconds to play in the half would allow the Storm to snag a 13-point lead going into the break.
Brown started off the second half with a three that cut the SOSU lead just a point shy of single digits. The Muleriders started the quarter off strong with the three but the Storm outscored SAU 23-10 the rest of the quarter. Mulerider scoring included two layups from Hill and threes from Tremie and Jones. The Storm built their lead back up and wrapped up the quarter with a 23-point lead, their largest thus far.
Southeastern took their 23-point lead and immediately built on it in the fourth quarter, outscoring SAU 9-0 in the first two and a half minutes to gain a 32-point advantage. Warren put an end to the SAU scoreless streak with a made layup. The Savage Storm held the Muleriders to single digit scoring figures in the fourth, their lowest scoring quarter of the game, with play highlighted by Jada Gasaway who scored five points.
The Muleriders turn their attention to their next game in Ada on Saturday. Live coverage links will be available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
