ADA, Okla. – Junior guard Blake Rogers registered a career-high 26 points, the most by a Mulerider this season, and senior forward Devante Brooks filled up his stat ledger with a double-double for the ninth time this year and for the eighth-consecutive game, but Southern Arkansas was slowed late on the road Thursday night in Ada as East Central topped the Muleriders 81-77 in Great American Conference action. The defeat snaps a four-game winning streak by SAU and drops the team’s overall record to 9-4 with a 5-2 mark in league play.

Rogers matched the highest made shot output by a Mulerider this season with nine. He added one assist and one rebound. Brooks’ ninth double-double was a result of 19 points and 11 rebounds with one steal and an assist.

The contest saw eight lead changes with seven coming in the second half to go along with six tied scores, four of which occurred in the final twenty minutes of play.

A layup by Brooks cut the SAU deficit to a penny at 65-64 with 4:47 to play. The Tigers responded with a three-point bucket to go up four points, but it was an ‘and-1’ effort from senior guard Aaron Lucas at the 2:33 mark that again brought the Muleriders to within a point of the Tiger lead at 68-67. Over the next 70 seconds, ECU quickly engineered a 7-0 run to lead 74-67 with 1:02 to play. East Central’s lead grew to as much as nine points in the final sixty seconds before nestling at four by the final horn.

The Tigers scored ten of the game’s first 13 points as ECU built a seven-point advantage at the 13:42 mark of the opening 20 minutes of play. However, the Muleriders, much like Stella, would find their groove and engineer a 14-6 run which led to the visitor’s first lead of the contest at 17-16 with 9:11 remaining in the first half.

Aiding that stretch of +8 scoring was junior guard Kris Wyche who delivered eight points on three shots including the go-ahead trifecta. Rogers picked up for Wyche moments later as the Mississippian scored nine of SAU’s next 13 points, which included seven straight and a conversion on an old-fashioned three-point play, as the Muleriders built a 30-23 lead just prior to the under-4 media timeout.

Rogers also produced a personal 7-0 run in the second half which gave the Muleriders its last lead of the night at 62-60 with 7:19 left.

Brooks added the final two buckets for the Muleriders in the first half as the Shreveport native entered the intermission a rebound shy of a double-double. SAU led 34-30 after East Central converted a driving shot at the horn to cap the first 20 minutes of action.

ECU dominated inside outscoring the Muleriders by 18 points in the paint in addition to grabbing ten more rebounds.

On Saturday, the Muleriders head south to Durant as a 3 p.m. tipoff with Southeastern Oklahoma State inside Bloomer Sullivan Arena wraps up the team’s first Oklahoma swing of the season.

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SEARCY – On the night senior Cole Chancey became the Great American Conference’s career rushing leader, Harding’s defense also had a memorable game as the 22nd-ranked Bisons shut out East Central, 28-0, before 3,500 fans at First Security Stadium.

Chancey, a native of Commerce, Ga., rushed 17 times for 102 yards and three touchdowns. He has 3,775 rushing yards, surpassing Ouachita Baptist’s Kris Oliver, who had 3,763 yards from 2015-18.

Chancey scored on runs of 6 yards and 1 yard in the first quarter and broke the record on a 24-yard touchdown run with 4:06 left in the third. It was his 15th career 100-yard rushing game and fifth with three or more touchdowns.

Harding’s defense recorded its seven opening-night shutout since the Bisons restarted their football program in 1959. The last shutout was 20-0 over Southern Arkansas in 2010. The 28-point margin was Harding’s second-largest shutout behind only a 39-0 victory over Lane in 1992.

Harding’s defense forced five turnovers, including four interceptions. Chancey’s first touchdown came after East Central (0-1) fumbled the opening kickoff. The Bisons took over at the East Central 16 and needed four plays before Chancey pounded through the middle of the East Central line to put the Bisons up 7-0 with 13:02 left in the first quarter.

After an East Central three-and-out, junior transfer Omar Sinclair took a pitch and raced down the Harding sideline, hurdling a pile of would-be tacklers and cutting across the field for a 72-yard touchdown. It was only his second carry as a Bison and gave Harding a 14-0 lead only 3:11 into the game. Sinclair carried four times for 92 yards.

The first of Harding’s four interceptions led to the team’s third first-quarter touchdown. Senior linebacker Shedrick Robinsonlaid out haul in his first career interception, giving the Bisons the ball at the Harding 44. A 13-play drive resulted in Chancey powering in from a yard out on 4th-and-goal.

Harding (1-0) has outscored its opponents 368-99 in the first quarter under head coach Paul Simmons.

Sophomore Ahmad Butler’s first career interception came in third quarter and gave the Bisons possession at the East Central 27. Two plays later, Chancey found a hole up the middle and found his way into the GAC record book with his third touchdown.

Harding’s defense limited East Central to only 48 rushing yards and 98 passing yards. The 146 total yards were the fewest by a Harding opponent since Southwestern Oklahoma had 135 yards in 2018.

Harding will play the first of two consecutive road games next Saturday against Southeastern Oklahoma in Durant. The Savage Storm won its opener 38-20 at Arkansas Tech on Thursday in Russellville.

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MAGNOLIA – Junior guard Aaron Lucas lofted a last second shot along the far baseline which banked in during the final seconds of overtime in Saturday afternoon’s Great American Conference matchup between Southern Arkansas and East Central and the Muleriders claimed a vital 76-75 win over the Tigers in the home finale from inside the W.T. Watson Center. The victory pushes SAU’s overall record to 13-13 and the Muleriders are back at .500 in league play with a 10-10 mark. With four tickets left to be punched for the GAC’s postseason party in Bartlesville, Southern Arkansas is currently tied for sixth with ECU and one game up on 9-11 Ouachita with two games to play.

With under eight seconds to play in overtime, Lucas strolled around a screen to take the inbounds pass from freshman Dodge Brown along the baseline. Brown, who dropped a career-high 16 points on a career-best five made trifectas, broke for the corner. Lucas turned and faked a pass to Brown in the corner, which drew two defenders to defend the potential three-point attempt, and Lucas then pivoted toward the goal as he used his right hand to hoist a shot off of the glass to give the Muleriders a late lead at 76-75. The final Tiger attempt from near half court fell short as SAU picked up its third-consecutive victory.

SAU led by 10 points at the intermission, while ECU outscored the Muleriders 46-36 in the final twenty minutes to force overtime. After shooting 1-of-8 from three-point range in the first half, ECU dropped six of their ten attempts in the second half to help force the bonus period. In the extra five minutes, Brown and Lucas each connected on a three-point shot as Lucas’ make opened scoring, while Brown’s brought SAU to within 75-74 of the lead with 1:01 to play.

In forcing overtime, the Muleriders used a jumper from the stroke of redshirt freshman Trent Ivy which tied the game at 68 moments before the Tigers’ Camron Talley was unable to sink a last second drive inside.

Sophomore combo Jalen Brooks led the Muleriders with 18 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Junior Devante Brooksscored a dozen points and also recorded nine boards, two assist, one block and a steal in 41 minutes of action. Lucas did not leave the floor as he played all 45 minutes and finished with ten points and seven assists.

The Muleriders shot 45.0 percent (27-of-60) from the floor and sank seven three-point shots. SAU edged ECU in rebounds (39-34) and paint points (32-28) and dished out a season-high 16 assists.

Southern Arkansas will put its postseason chances on the line this coming weekend in the Sooner State as the final Thursday-Saturday swing of the regular season sends the team to Bethany and Shawnee where Southern Nazarene and Oklahoma Baptist await respectively. Both teams have locked up a spot in the conference tournament with the Crimson Storm currently holding the No. 1 seed, while Oklahoma Baptist is currently at the No. 4 spot.

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SEARCY – Carissa Caples and Cheyenne Brown both scored 18 points to lead Harding to a 67-51 victory over East Central Saturday in Great American Conference play at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House.

Harding improved to 14-6 overall and 9-5 in the GAC, moving into a four-way tie for third place in the conference. East Central is also 14-6 overall and 9-5 in conference and part of the tie.

Harding struggled offensively through the first three quarters but shot 60 percent from the field and made 11 free throws in a 25-point fourth quarter. The Lady Bisons held the Tigers to only 28 percent shooting.

Caples shot 6-of-12 from the field and made two of Harding’s four 3-pointers. Brown was 5-of-13 shooting and made eight free throws. Kellie Lampo added 14 points, and Peyton Padgett had a team-high 11 rebounds.

Lakin Preisner led East Central with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Harding is back in action Thursday at Arkansas-Monticello.

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MAGNOLIA – Records didn’t matter on Friday evening inside the W.T. Watson Center as both Southern Arkansas and East Central engaged in a thriller of a five-set Great American Conference match that saw the Muleriders prevail late (25-27, 25-15, 17-25, 25-23, 15-11) to snap a five-match losing streak in league play and draw within two games of the eighth and final playoff spot for the conference tournament.

The Muleriders (8-15, 2-8 GAC) powered their offensive attack through true freshman setter Caitlin Murdock who finished with a career-best 50 kills and 11 digs as she posted her first career double-double. Murdock is the first Mulerider setter to hit the half-century assist mark in a match since former SAU student-athlete Katy Cooper notched 63 on November 8, 2016.

Southern Arkansas’ offense hit at a collective .226 (63-27-159); the second-best attack clip in a league match this season. Sophomore Morgan Gross hit an impressive .387 (16-4-31) and of her 16 kills, five came in the final set with four produced in consecutive order that helped the Muleriders turn a 9-7 deficit into an 11-9 lead.

Junior Seven Powers logged a career-best 18 kills behind a .286 hit percentage and totaled 20.5 points. True freshman Rylea Brimhall added 13 kills in a .286 attack effort. All three of the hit clips from SAU’s top attackers on Friday rank in the top ten for the club this season. The team’s 63 kills in the win are the second most in a match for SAU this season.

True freshman Camryn Bihary’s 24 digs led three other Muleriders in double digit digs, including senior Bailey Zoss who added a baker’s dozen and recorded two of the team’s four service aces. Southern Arkansas registered nine total blocks; the fifth match this campaign with nine or more, which came in the form of ten block assists and four solos. Powers produced a pair of solo blocks, while Murdock and sophomore Bailey Cagle each delivered three block assists.

In the opening set, Southern Arkansas trailed 10-7, but used a 5-0 run to claim a 12-10 lead which eventually led to a 21-19 set one advantage. East Central would rally to claim a 27-25 win in the first frame. The Muleriders rebounded in a big way with a 25-15 set two victory that came courtesy of a .393 attack percentage and runs of 7-0 and 8-1.

The third set belonged to ECU as the Tigers posted their highest attack clip of the match at .267 to win 25-17 and put Southern Arkansas on the ropes heading into the fourth.

Like a seasoned heavyweight fighter, the Muleriders kept swinging as Brimhall, Gross and Powers each added a kill on a 4-0 run that brought SAU from a 17-15 deficit to a 19-17 lead which ended with the aforementioned trio logging single kills with Bihary adding a service ace to stamp the fourth set.

It was all grit for Southern Arkansas in the fifth set as a 4-1 lead evaporated into a 7-5 ECU advantage. The Tigers would build a three-point lead at 9-6 and appear to grab the momentum, before a lively W.T. Watson Center backed the Muleriders as part of a 5-0 run that started with a kill from Smith and ended with Gross’ aforementioned four straight kills that changed the direction of the contest as the Muleriders ended the match by breaking an 11-all tie with four straight points that included a kill from Gross and an exclamation point attack from Powers.

UP NEXT
Southern Arkansas plays host to Southeastern Oklahoma State in a quick turnaround scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Savage Storm suffered a five-set loss to Arkansas-Monticello on Friday. Live coverage links will be available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.

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ADA, Okla. – The Harding volleyball team won its fifth straight match Saturday morning defeating East Central 3-1 (25-19, 29-25, 25-23, 25-14) in Great American Conference action. The Lady Bisons improve to 17-2 overall and 6-1 in the GAC.

East Central falls to 4-16 overall and 0-7 in the GAC.

FIRST SET

Trailing 7-6, Harding went on a 4-0 run to lead 10-7. East Central battled back and took a 13-12 lead on a 4-1 run. The Lady Bisons answered back with a 5-1 run to lead 17-14. The Tigers did not get any closer than two the rest of the way as Harding won the set 25-19.

SECOND SET

East Central took an 11-1 lead to open the second set on six Harding attack errors. Harding battled back and cut the lead to two 21-19 but the Tigers won the next four points to win the set 25-19.

THIRD SET

Trailing 9-6, Harding went on an 8-1 run to lead 14-10. East Central fought back and tied the set at 23 until Harding had back-to-back kills to win 25-23.

FOURTH SET

The fourth set was all Harding as it opened the set with an 8-4 lead. The Lady Bisons went on to win the set 25-14. Harding had 19 kills in the set and hit .484 and held East Central to hitting .079.

STATS

Harding

–  Emily Clayton led Harding with 15 kills. Emma Reeves added 14 kills, Taylor Mounts had 13 and Zoe Hardin had 10.

–  Rachel Heussner captured a double-double with 47 assists and 14 digs.

–  Taylor Lake led the defense with a season-high 29 digs. Selena Fosteralso had a season-high with 18 digs.

East Central

– Alex Campbell led East Central with 11 kills.

– Lily Porsa had 24 digs to lead the defense.

QUOTE

Head Coach Meredith Fear: “We are glad to end the weekend 2-0. We saw some really good defensive play this weekend and need to continue to work on our offensive consistency. Excited to get back on our home court next week.”

UP NEXT

Harding will take a break from GAC play Monday when it hosts Arkansas-Fort Smith at 6 p.m., at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House.

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SEARCY – Junior Chris Taylor hit a seventh-inning grand slam and freshman Austin Allenpitched eight strong innings to lead Harding to a 5-2 victory over East Central in the teams’ Great American Conference series opener Friday at Jerry Moore Field.

The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at noon to conclude the series.

Harding improved to 13-21 with the victory, moving to 9-13 in the GAC. East Central, who entered the series tied with Harding for seventh place in the conference standings, dropped to 9-21 overall and 8-14 in the GAC.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh and the game tied 1-1, East Central starter Dylan Sanchez (1-9) walked Harding’s Ben Brauss on a 3-2 pitch. Grant Guest followed that with a seeing-eye single up the middle that sent Brauss around to third.

East Central replaced Sanchez with reliever Sheae Edmonds, who walked Luke Van Dover on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. With the count 2-2, Taylor crushed an inside pitch off the scoreboard in left field for Harding’s first grand slam of the season and Taylor’s second home run.

Allen (5-4) held East Central to only one hit through the first five innings before giving up a run in the sixth on an RBI double to left by Kaleb Matthews, the only East Central player with two hits in the game.

Matthews’ second hit, a triple in the eighth, drove in East Central’s second run and cut Harding’s lead to three runs. Allen retired the last hitter of the eighth on a ground out to end the East Central threat.

Junior Mason Faulkner retired East Central in order in the ninth for his fifth save.

Allen yielded only six hits, walked none and struck out seven, tying a season high.

Sanchez gave up six hits and three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out none.

Taylor reached base in all four plate appearances. He walked in the first and third innings and lined a double down the third-base line to lead off the sixth.

Harding’s first run came in the first inning. Brauss led off the game with a double and scored Luke Van Dover‘s single to center.

Guest, Van Dover and Taylor each had two hits for Harding.

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On today’s edition, we get to visit with players from the winning basketball teams in the recent postseason Great American Conference tournaments: Harding’s A’ndrea Haney and Sydnie Jones and East Central’s Braxton Reeves and K.D. Moore.

GAC Weekly Feb. 20, 2017

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•  Each team is coming into the game off a loss. And a home loss at that. Both teams had double-digit winning streaks before that.

For UAM (14-1), it was the first loss of the season and a heartbreaking one at that. The Weevils gave up a 20-point second half lead. Arkansas Tech took the lead with less than a minute remaining and UAM made only one of two free throw attempts with less than a second left and fell, 91-90, to the Wonder Boys.

ECU (12-5) lost for the first time since its loss to UAM in their first meeting. Northwestern led ECU almost throughout (38:45) and bested the Tigers in the Kerr Center, 83-71. The Tigers had run off 12 straight wins since opening the season at 0-4.

• The 14-0 start is the best in school history for UAM. The Weevils climbed to as high as No. 16 in the NABC Division II poll. The top 25 ranking for UAM is the first since the 2008-2009 season, in which it made it to as high as No. 5 during the year.

• In the first meeting this year in Monticello, the Weevils won, 104-99, behind a 30-point effort from Derylton Hill. UAM crossed the century mark on the scoreboard by moving the ball well, dishing out 31 assists as a team. That kind of ball movement has been a hallmark of the team throughout the year as it leads the Central Region in assists per game at 18.0 each night. The exciting-to-watch Karim Mawuenyega distributes 4.5 assists each game, fifth best in the league.

But as the Weevils give, they also take away. UAM is tops in the region also in steals per game at 8.1 takeaways per contest and forces 17.8 turnovers per game as well.

• If this game comes down to free throws, UAM will likely do its best not to foul Braxton Reeves. The senior is leading East Central (and the GAC) in scoring at 21.3 ppg. But he has also made 97-of-101 free throws this season – at one point 35 consecutively – and is second in D-II at 96.0 percent. Reeves is also key to the Tiger offense in that he will often draw an extra defender and he has a team high 51 assists (3.0 per game).

And Reeves is also at the top of the rankings region-wide in his ability to hit from long range. He is knocking down three-pointers at a pace of 3.71 per game, eighth best in D-II.

• Prior to the loss earlier in the first matchup, ECU had won three of the last four to UAM. But the Weevils now own a 7-4 advantage over the Tigers since the inception of the GAC.

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In 2017, she finds herself still within the GAC, but charged with responsibilities that will help keep a former rival program in the hunt for a title.

Suydam is one of two new graduate assistants on coach Jason Anderson’s staff at Southern Arkansas.

The Muleriders currently reside at the top of the league mountain, having won tournament championships in 2014 and 2016. And the coaches put them at the top of this year’s preseason poll, as well.

For Suydam, it looks to be a great program at which to get the next part of her softball career underway.

“That’s definitely nice,” Suydam said. “This program has already established itself as a competitive program with two conference championships in the past three years. So I’m excited to help to build on our success in the past and to keep having Southern Arkansas to compete as not only one of the top teams in the GAC, but also in the Division II level.”

Suydam came to East Central in 2012 after playing at the high school level at Keller, Texas, and helping her team to three district titles and earning All-State honors as a junior.

Her career at ECU was no less decorated. She was a part of the program’s only conference tournament championship (2015), at the top of many team statistics year in and year out, and concluded her time as a player with numerous honors including Academic All-American, culminating with being named the Great American Conference Female Student-Athlete of the Year.

But she didn’t feel like it was her time to step away from the game yet.

“After graduating, I knew that softball wasn’t something I wanted to leave behind,” Suydam said. “I wanted to be involved with the sport. I started looking for graduate assistant positions and I found this one and I thought it was a great opportunity.

“I was very blessed with the chance that Coach Anderson gave me to work with the SAU program.”

She graduated from East Central in the spring of 2016 with a 4.0 GPA and a degree in criminal justice. But she determined that a career in that field is not in her immediate future.

“I did an internship right after I graduated. And I love criminal justice, but I think my heart is still in softball. So now the degree I’m getting my master’s in will be in coaching.

“I feel like that is what I really want to pursue, but maybe, if I decide to teach as well as coach, I might teach criminal justice classes. So I guess criminal justice right now is on the back burner for me.”

Suydam said her primary responsibilities include working with the outfielders, with the hitters and helping to oversee the strength and conditioning program.

She will be working not only with Coach Anderson this spring, but also with someone against whom she competed last season. Former Mulerider pitcher Kimmy Beasley played her final collegiate season for Anderson after three years at the University of Arkansas, and will also be on the SAU staff as a G.A.

As a side note, Suydam went 3-for-9 against Beasley when she was in the circle against ECU last season. But Beasley picked up wins in each of the three games she pitched against the Tigers, which included a marathon 12-inning, 3-2 contest in the first round of the GAC Tournament.

And while those games are in the past, Suydam said she has already thought a little about the matchup with East Central next month. She’ll get to return to Ada for two doubleheaders on Feb. 24 and 25.

“It’s definitely going to be interesting going back to where I spent four years. But I’m excited.

“Obviously, I still have old friends there and everything, but now it’s time to compete.”

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