Alva Review-Courier -

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Trailing by nine with just under three and a half minutes remaining in the game, Southern Arkansas engineered a 7-0 run to pull within a possession of the Northwestern Oklahoma lead at 65-63. The Muleriders, with 2.7 seconds left, had an opportunity to win the game on their final possession, but a deep, contested three-pointer from the stroke of CJ Elkins missed off the back iron and the Rangers survived the Great American Conference affair on Saturday afternoon inside the W.T. Watson Center.

A three-pointer by Draylan Perkins cut the Southern Arkansas deficit to six points at 65-59 with 2:17 to play in the game. Elkins then followed forty seconds later with a pair of free throws to pull the Muleriders to within two possessions of Northwestern Oklahoma at the 1:39 mark of the second half. Less than ten seconds later, Trey Davis converted one of two attempts from the free throw line and with 21 seconds to play, Elkins followed by connecting on one of two attempts from the charity stripe, before the aforementioned last possession came up short.

Southern Arkansas carried a five-point lead into the halftime break, but quickly saw that advantage deflate coming out of the intermission as the Rangers manufactured a 21-5 run to start the second half. That run was a part of a larger 29-7 Northwestern Oklahoma run that began with 3:46 remaining in the first half.

The contest featured 13 lead changes and six tied scores. Both teams' largest lead of the game was 11 with Southern Arkansas' coming at the 3:46 mark of the first half and Northwestern Oklahoma's developing at the 14:12 mark of the second half.

Northwestern Oklahoma finished with a 52.0% (26-of-50) shooting clip from the floor and just 50.0% (8-of-16) from the free throw line. After making just one of their eight shots from beyond-the-arc in the first half, the Rangers managed to hit four of their five attempts in the second half. The Muleriders shot 44.9% (22-of-49) from the field, made six of 19 three-point attempts, and posted a 72.2% (13-of-18) from the free throw line.

DeVante Brooks was the leading scorer for Southern Arkansas on Saturday dropping 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. He added three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Elkins was the other Mulerider to score in double figures as he finished with a dozen points, a team-high five rebounds, and three assists. Charlie Thomas also finished with five rebounds and Perkins dished out a game-high four assists and added four rebounds.

The loss puts SAU's conference slate at 8-9 with five games remaining in the regular season. The Muleriders are currently in seventh place, one-game back of Arkansas Tech and Arkansas-Monticello for a three-way tie for fifth place and just one game up on Henderson State and Ouachita who each sit tied for eighth at 7-10. Southern Arkansas has all four aforementioned opponents remaining on the schedule.

The Muleriders return to the court on Thursday, February 22, for an in-state clash with Arkansas Tech, who enters with a 9-8 league record. The Muleriders beat ATU on the road in Russellville 80-76 on January 13. Tip-off from inside the W.T. Watson Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Live links for all of the action are available at http://www.MuleriderAthletics.com.

Olivia McWilliams' career-high 23 points and 10 steals propels Lady Muleriders past Northwestern Oklahoma, 84-64, in Magnolia

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Lady Mulerider offense came out strong as it combined for 51 total points in the first half to take a 51-28 advantage at the break and carried that momentum into the second half to hold a steady lead throughout the remainder of the contest that eventually led to an 84-64 final decision over Northwestern Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon inside the W.T. Watson Center.

In the first half, Southern Arkansas outscored Northwestern Oklahoma from the field making 21-of-36 field goal attempts at 58.3% and had three players reach double-figure scoring before the break whom all combined for 34 of SAU's total points in the half.

Olivia McWilliams led the Lady Muleriders in that half with 13 points and, defensively, had eight steals. Sue Key had 11 points and Kimberly Crown tallied 10 points to round out the Lady Muleriders with double-figure points in the frame.

Defensively in the first half, the Lady Muleriders forced 15 turnovers and registered 11 steals while holding Northwestern Oklahoma to a 36.36% field goal percentage.

With a 23-point lead at the intermission, the Lady Muleriders captured its largest lead of the contest in the third quarter with a 29-point advantage at 3:26, 67-38.

A pair of Lady Muleriders reached double-figure points again in the second half as Key tallied another 13 points and McWilliams followed at 10 points to both combine for 23 of SAU's 33 total points in the half.

The Lady Rangers outscored SAU by a slim (36-33) after the break, but it wasn't enough to break the Lady Muleriders' double-figure advantage as NWOSU only came as close as a 19-point deficit in the final quarter.

The Lady Muleriders forced 25-total turnovers in the contest and added 35 points off of those turnovers while registering 16 steals.

McWilliams' 23 points and 10 steals in the game set a new individual career-high for her and was also her first career double-double at SAU.

Key's team-best 24-total points and McWilliams' 23 points saw them both combine for over half of the Lady Muleriders' points in the game.

SAU out-shot NWOSU from the field (55.2% - 39.2%), points in the paint (38-20), points off turnovers (35-18), second chance points (14-11), and fast break points (14-0) to secure the final victory over the Lady Rangers, 84-64.

UP NEXT

The Lady Muleriders host Arkansas Tech next Thursday, February 15, in Magnolia with a scheduled 5:30 p.m. tip-off.