ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Add to the victory column as the Mulerider Women claimed their first win against Great American Conference competition as Southern Arkansas traveled to Clark County and defeated the Ouachita Baptist Tigers in what looked to be an offensive battle, but turned out to be a defensive struggle in the second half that led to the Muleriders' 64-58 win. With the triumph, Southern Arkansas has claimed their first win against the Tigers since the 2021-22 season.
The Blue and Gold took control of the contest early as the Muleriders claimed a 20-9 lead with just three minutes to go in the first period. While the Tigers scored five points unanswered, SAU eventually did answer with a layup and one from Chloe Wilbanks for the 23-14 lead after one.
Ouachita brought the contest close once again within two points (23-21). Southern Arkansas stretched the lead back out to six, but was countered by the Tigers' 2-9 run that delivered the lead to OUA. The Muleriders answered right back though with a 10-0 stretch heading into the half (41-32). The 41 points scored by SAU in the first half has been the most points scored by Southern Arkansas in the first half all season.
To begin the third period, the Muleriders stretched their lead to as much as 12 and looked to keep up their momentum, but Ouachita had other plans. The Tigers logged a 7-18 run against Southern Arkansas to end the third period and stole the lead and the momentum with the score at 49-50.
From then on, the contest became a true battle as the neither squad gave up an inch until an Addy Tremie three-pointer with four minutes to go gave the Blue and Gold the lead that the group never squandered.
It just makes sense that Tremie would lead the team in scoring after the graduate recorded 18 points shooting 6-14 and 4-10 from three-point range plus a couple of free throws. Crystal Ortiz followed just behind the senior from Sulphur, Louisiana as the senior from Sallisaw, Oklahoma tacked on 17 points after making five of her eight shots from the field and accounted for a three-point shooting percentage of 75% with her three field goals from beyond the arc. The final double-digit scorer for the Muleriders was another senior in Wilbanks as the native of Leesville, Louisiana scored 11 points that primarily came from the charity stripe, especially in crunch time, making 6-7 from the line.
While she was not a double-digit scorer, junior Elena Lijo-Rodriguez absolutely dominated the boards with her 13 rebounds that led the game and nearly accounted for half of the Muleriders rebounds for the game.
Southern Arkansas returns to the W.T. Watson Center on Saturday for their conference home-opener against Arkansas Tech where they look to earn their second-consecutive Great American Conference win and potentially their first win against the Golden Suns since February 8, 2020.
