BETHANY, Okla. — Thursday night in Oklahoma City is where the Muleriders' path to the 2024-25 Great American Conference Championship Tournament began. First-year head coach in the GAC Darrick Matthews and his unit traveled to Oklahoma County for their first encounter with the defending regular season league champion Southern Nazarene in the Crimson Storm's home at the Sawyer Center.
The Blue and Gold did not look at the titles from the previous season as a source of fear as the Muleriders came into Bethany with a chip on their shoulder and gave the Crimson Storm all they could, but came up short on the road as SNU outlasted SAU in the fourth quarter and handed the Muleriders their second loss of the season by a final of 50-61 in a highly-defensive bout. The points scored against the Mulerider defense by SNU was the fewest scored by the Crimson Storm since January 26, 2019 when Southern Arkansas fell to Southern Nazarene 50-60.
The Muleriders downfall did not come to them due to any falter in rebounds, fouls, and hardly in turnovers. SAU shooting percentage from the field was 37.7% and was just one percentage less than SNU, but the Blue and Gold from beyond the arc defeated the Muleriders as they made just 1-8 from three-point range while the Crimson Storm made 7-23.
Southern Arkansas saw three players with double-digit scoring as the group was led by the Spain native Elena-Lijo Rodriguez with 14 points and shooting 7-13. The junior accounted for her first double-double in her career as she tacked on 10 rebounds with four offensive rebounds and six defensive boards.
Nearly recording her first NCAA double-double was Crystal Ortiz as the senior transfer from the University of Science and Arts at Oklahoma contributed 10 points and and eight rebounds with three offensive and five defensive boards. The final Mulerider with 10+ points was Tequaza Chambers as the senior leader put up 12 points against the Storm and shot 6-7 from the charity stripe, having her first missed free throw of the season (7 games).
The lead orchestrator of the offense was once again Marlee Bright. The NCAA DII November starting five member applied her passing skill set against the tight defense of SNU with six assists. The 5' 5" point guard recorded four defensive rebounds as well as a steal and block.
Coach Matthews' Muleriders continue their stay in the OKC area as they are set to take on Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday at 1 PM inside the Noble Complex in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
