Alva Review-Courier -

SEARCY – Harding held Southern Arkansas without a field goal for more than 11 minutes of clock time and defeated the Muleriders 78-50 Saturday in Great American Conference action at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House.

The win was the fifth straight for Harding (6-1, 2-0), who won for the 11th consecutive time at home. Southern Arkansas (1-5, 0-2) lost for the 17th time in its last 19 games against Harding.

Southern Arkansas' Jerica Bell made a jumper with 5:16 left in the second quarter to cut Harding's lead to 36-18. The Lady Bisons held the Muleriders without another field goal until the 4:01 mark of the third quarter. During the SAU drought, Harding outscored Southern Arkansas 23-1 to pull out to a 59-19 lead.

In its last three games, Southern Arkansas had only allowed 10 3-pointers, Harding nearly matched that in the first half, connecting on a season-high nine 3-pointers.

Cheyenne Brown led Harding in scoring for the second straight game and for the third time this season with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Brown also made five of Harding's seven free throws.

Kennedy Cooper had 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for her first career double-double. Peyton Padgett made three 3-pointers in a game for the first time in her career and scored a season-high 13 points. Amanda Kearney made four 3-pointers, all in the first half, and scored 12. Carissa Caples contributed a career-high 10 assists.

Harding shot a season-high 56.4 percent and outscored Southern Arkansas 44-20 in the paint.

Southern Arkansas shot 31.0 percent from the field, the seventh straight Harding opponent this season to shoot less than 40 percent.

With the win, Harding joined Southwestern Oklahoma and Henderson State as the only three GAC teams to win their first two conference games. Harding is at Henderson State next Saturday in Arkadelphia for a 1 p.m. tipoff.