MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Mulerider Women's Basketball team is back in the Natural State as they prepare to face in-state conference competition in Ouachita Baptist and Arkansas Tech with an opportunity for the unit's first Great American Conference victory of the 2024-25 campaign after falling both contests last week against Southern Nazarene and Oklahoma Baptist on the road.
 
Southern Arkansas will begin the week's events in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where it will face the OUA Tigers at 5:30 PM on Thursday inside the Bill Vining Arena. The Muleriders will return to Magnolia to take on the ATU Golden Suns on Saturday at 1:00 PM inside the W.T. Watson Center.
 
Ouachita Baptist (3-2 | 0-2 GAC)
>>> After a 3-0 start, the Ouachita Baptist Tigers have dropped in their last two contests as they traveled to Oklahoma to face East Central on Thursday and Southeastern Oklahoma on Saturday.
>>> The Muleriders look to defeat OUA for the first time since the 2021-22 season in which Southern Arkansas swept the Tigers for the season in a couple of high-scoring bouts.
>>> 2023-24 Second Team All-GAC member, Laney Mears returns for the Tigers and once again leads the group in scoring with her 10.8 points per game. Mears currently leads the GAC and the Central Region in three-point percentage as the senior is shooting 56% from beyond the arc.
>>> Mears is also the league's leader for three-pointers made per game with an average of 2.80 buckets from the range per contest.
>>> The senior's three-point percentage has assisted the Tigers into having the fourth-best three-point percentage in the nation with 41.6%.
 
Arkansas Tech (3-3 | 1-1 GAC)
>>> The Golden Suns have begun their season 3-3 and have started conference competition at 1-1 after their trips to Alva and Weatherford, Oklahoma at which they fell to Northwestern Oklahoma State 62-72 and defeated Southwestern Oklahoma State with a dominating third quarter of play.
>>> Overall, Arkansas Tech owns the series between them and the Muleriders as the program is 79-8 against Southern Arkansas. The Blue and Gold seek after its first victory against the Golden Suns since 2020 in Russellville, Arkansas during the Covid season. In that contest, the Muleriders defeated ATU 96-95 in overtime.
>>> Tech's league and region-leading rebound numbers have been headed up by 6'2" senior Julie Wagner who leads the team in rebounding with 4.7 defensive boards per game (5th GAC), 2.8 offensive boards per game (6th GAC), and 7.5 boards per game (5th GAC).
 
Lockdown Defense
>>> Southern Arkansas comes off of a pair of losses on the road against a couple of the league leaders in Southern Nazarene and Oklahoma Baptist. In both contests, the Muleriders held the two squads to below 65 points each (SNU 61, OBU 64). That is the first time since all three programs have been members of the Great American Conference that the Muleriders' defense held the two OKC area schools to below 65.
>>> The Crimson Storm's 61 points were the fewest scored against Southern Arkansas since the 2018-19 season and is the first time since the 2019-20 campaign that SAU held Southern Nazarene within the 60-point range.
>>> For the entire season thus far, the Muleriders house the fifth-best defense in terms of scoring as Southern Arkansas averages just 49.0 points allowed per outing.
>>> Against Division II competition, the Blue and Gold is allowing just 52.5 points per game and would tie for 14th in Division II for scoring defense.
>>> The rock is never safe when against the Mulerider defense as the group is ranked 23rd nationally for steals per game (12.8) and leads the GAC.
 
Hard in the Paint
>>> Southern Arkansas, in the last two games, controlled the paint for the majority of both contests as the Muleriders out-rebounded and outscored opponents inside the paint over the two outings.
>>> The Blue and Gold led the weekend in scoring underneath against their OKC opponents with 60 total points, scoring more than half of their points. Elena Lijo-Rodriguez has been a major part of the Muleriders' paint presence as the 6'5" junior out of A Coruna, Spain recorded 14 points against the Crimson Storm last Thursday for a season-high in scoring for the Spain descendant. Lijo-Rodriguez logged another double-digit scoring effort against OBU on Saturday and accounted for her fourth 10+ point outing this campaign.
>>> The junior has not only been scoring well in the paint but has also been a prime resource for the Muleriders in the rebounding department.
>>> In Thursday night's contest against SNU, Lijo-Rodriguez recorded a career-high 10 rebounds and a career-first double-double as well as the team's first double-double since Diamond Morris' last season against Lincoln (Mo.) in the Central Region Tip-Off (27 points | 10 rebounds).