ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State will look for its first season sweep of an in-state rival when it travels to Magnolia, Arkansas on Thursday to take on the Southern Arkansas Lady Muleriders at 5:30 p.m.
REDDIES REPORT
- Henderson State (14-6, 9-5) hit their first four 3-point attempts of the game and went on a 13-0 first quarter run which served as a knockout punch against OKBU in a 98-84 win last Saturday. HSU led by 34 points in the third quarter of the road victory.
- Both Hailey Estes and Karrington Whaley turned in double-doubles for HSU. Estes finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds while Whaley scored 17 and pulled down 10 boards. The Reddies are undefeated (5-0) when Estes and Whaley post double-doubles in the same contest.
- HSU's senior leader Estes is averaging 17.2 points and 9.2 rebounds while shooting 50% from the floor over her last five games. She has also knocked down at least three 3-point field goals in each of those contests while shooting 41.4% from downtown.
- The Springdale, Arkansas native Whaley has also been excellent for the Reddies over the last few games, averaging 17 points and 9.3 rebounds in the last three contests. Whaley had arguably her best game of the season against SAU in the first meeting on Nov. 21 when she set career-highs with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
- With 15 points against Oklahoma Baptist, sophomore and super sixth-man Maci Mains has now scored in double-figures in nine-straight games. In conference play, Mains is averaging 13.1 points per game which ranks in the Top-15 of the conference.
- Pink Jones filled up the box score against the Lady Bison, finishing with 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Jones is the only player in the GAC that is Top-5 in the league in blocks, steals, and assists.
- Henderson State has won four-straight and six of the last seven over Southern Arkansas.
HENDERSON STATE MILESTONE WATCH
- Pink Jones needs just two assists to pass Julie Anderson and become Henderson State's all-time assist leader. She also needs 22 points to become just the third player in HSU history to score 1,500 in a career.
- With the victory over Oklahoma Baptist, head coach Jill Thomas won her 98th game for Reddies basketball and now has the third-most in Henderson State Women's Basketball history.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
- Southern Arkansas (14-6, 8-6) is not only the most improved team in the GAC, they may be having one of the best turnarounds in NCAA basketball after winning just three games all of last season.
- The Lady Muleriders rely on an extremely deep rotation and a run and jump defense to create havoc and force the opposition into turnovers. SAU leads the GAC in steals with 13.6 per game, as well as forced turnovers with 24.4 per game in league play. Back on Nov. 23, SAU forced Harding into an astronomical 47 turnovers in a 76-71 win. The Lady Muleriders are forcing 29.2 turnovers in wins, but just 19.8 turnovers in losses.
- Southern Arkansas has 13 players averaging at least nine minutes per game. No SAU player averages more than 20 minutes per game or more than 10 points. The Reddies will look to limit the Lady Muleriders on the glass, as SAU leads the league grabbing 16.9 offensive rebounds per game.
- Although freshman Diamond Morris leads SAU in scoring at 9.9 points per game, SAU's most efficient offensive players are forwards Kisi Young and Alyssa Crase. Both Young and Crase shoot over 50% from the floor and rank in the Top-5 in the conference in offensive rebounds per game. Crase had a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards in the first meeting, while Young pulled down five of SAU's 23 offensive rebounds — the most the Reddies have given up all season.
