MAGNOLIA, Ark. — Southern Arkansas (12-12 | 7-11) returns home inside the W.T. Watson Center for its last full weekend at home as the Muleriders are scheduled to take on the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers (12-12 | 9-9) on Friday night at 5:30 PM and the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs (13-11 | 9-9) on Saturday at 1:00 PM. 
 
SAU is coming another split weekend after traveling to Monticello to handle the group in-state rival in a 72-62 victory and then dropping its contest at Harding with a final of 55-73. Highlighting last weekend for the Muleriders was Tequaza Chambers claiming her second Great American Conference Offensive Player of the Week as the senior from Plain Dealing accounted for her fourth-consecutive weekend with 40+ points and a 26-point that led the game in scoring against the conference's top-scoring group (Harding). 

A Glance at SAU
The Muleriders continue their hunt toward the GAC Tournament in Fort Smith, Arkansas as the group currently sits in a three-way tie at 7-11 in the league. The Blue and Gold are tied with East Central, whom the group has already defeated twice, and Henderson State, whom the unit has lost to twice. With just four spots open, the Muleriders face two teams looking to hold their position over the Blue and Gold as SAU, NWOSU, and SWOSU are all in contention for a clinched tournament seat this weekend. 
 
The Muleriders continue to be efficient offensively as the group ranks first in the conference for assists per game (13.8) and field goal percentage (43.7 | 36th DII). Aiding Southern Arkansas in these categories are Marlee Bright and Tequaza Chambers as the two both rank inside the top two of the statistical categories individually. 
 
Bright is the league-leader for assist/turnover ratio (2.37 | 7th DII), assists (123 | 19th DII), and assists per game (5.1 | 20th DII). Ranking second in the GAC for her field goal percentage is Chambers with a percentage of 49.6 as she is making just 0.8% less than the league's leader in SNU's Hannah Giddey. 
 
A Glance at NWOSU
>>> The Rangers last saw the Muleriders on their own home court at which Northwestern Oklahoma State would defeat Southern Arkansas 59-75 after the Rangers had stunned SAU in the first two periods. Within the first half, NWOSU outscored the Muleriders 21-47 with some stellar play on both sides of the ball. Southern Arkansas outscored the unit in the second half 38-28, but was too far behind to recover from the deficit. 
 
>>> Since claiming victory against Southern Arkansas in January, the Rangers have gone .500 with a 4-4 record as they have defeated three of the last four Natural State opponents, which includes at Harding (63-61), Henderson State (81-45), and Ouachita Baptist (66-60). NWOSU's lone loss to a Natural State foe was at Arkansas Tech (51-64) on February 1. 
 
>>> The Rangers have been a premiere team on the glass. With 14.3 offensive rebounds per game, the group is first in the Great American Conference. 
 
>>> Leading the unit in those rebounds has been Kira Bass with an average of 3.2 offensive boards per outing. 
 
A Glance at SWOSU
>>> The Bulldogs have gone 5-4 since they last faced the Muleriders in Weatherford, which would result in a SWOSU 55-47 victory. The outing was a highly-defensive battle as Southern Arkansas was kept to just six points in the first period while allowing 18. SAU then flipped the script with a 14-2 second period. SWOSU clapped back soon with a 20-6 third and a 21-15 fourth for the Muleriders coming up just shy of the Bulldogs.
 
>>>The Bulldogs mark the Muleriders' final contest with a program from the Sooner State this regular season. Just like their ranger rivals, the Bulldogs have defeated three of the last four Arkansas groups since taking on Southern Arkansas. 
 
>>> Southwestern Oklahoma State is the league's top team for steals as the group leads the GAC with 9.7 steals per game and have the best turnover margin (6.71 | 10th DII) and turnovers forced per game (19.38). 
 
>>> Leading the way for the Bulldogs in stealing has been Averi Zinn as the senior is sixth in the conference for steals (43) and steals per game (1.79)
 
Next Up: 
Next week for the Muleriders, the unit will perform their final home game of the 2024-25 campaign as they play host to the Ouachita Baptist Tigers on Thursday (Feb. 27) night at 5:30 PM for Student-Appreciation Night, Community Night, and Senior Night. The regular season ends in Russellville as the group will then take on Arkansas Tech next Saturday (Mar. 1) at 1:00 PM.