Riderettes Victorious Over Lady Bucs
By Rori Eddie

Magnolia, AR--Leading 50-40 with 12:50 to play, the Southern Arkansas University women’s basketball team went on an 11-1 run. It was a run that proved to be enough, as the Riderettes collected the 73-63 Gulf South Conference victory over Christian Brothers University.

CBU would make 10-0 run of their own, cutting the margin to 61-51 but the Riderettes would match the Lady Bucs basket for basket the rest of the way.

SAU snapped a four-game losing streak Saturday night with a win over Harding and with their second win in a row, improved to 7-6 overall and 2-2 in Gulf South Conference play. The Lady Bucs fell to 8-7 overall and to 1-4 in GSC play.

At the halftime intermission, Southern Arkansas controlled a 29-23 advantage, and much would be the same in the second half of action. The Riderettes led from four to nine points in the second half until Desheka Porchia hit a trey to put SAU up by 11, 48-37, 14:07 left. Shayla Canady made it 50-37 before Sarah Condra hit a 3-pointer, cutting the Riderette lead to 10.

Southern countered with a run that pushed their lead to 20 points. CBU responded with consecutive jumpers by Rubenia Finley, a jumper by Condra, a lay-up by Gail Fridy and a jumper by Fridy, 61-51, 5:05 left.

Meah Biley hit a basket from the circle for SAU to snap the run and down the stretch, CBU could only get as close as 68-61 with 46 seconds to go. The Lady Bucs had to foul but SAU did not reach the one and one until 31 ticks remained. From there, Jones hit a pair of freebies and Blair Wilkerson meshed four in a row to clinch matters.

The Riderettes shot 47 percent from the field (28-60), 46 percent from 3-point territory (6-13) and 58 percent from the free throw line (11-19). The Lady Bucs shot only 39 percent from the field (26-66), 32 percent from 3-point range (6-19) and 71 percent from the charity stripe (5-7). CBU had a 40-37 advantage on the boards but turned the ball over 20 times compared to only 11 by SAU. Cole Jones had 18 points in the Southern Arkansas victory.

For CBU, Finley led all scorers with 21 points followed closely by Condra's 19. No one else was close to double-figures for the Lady Bucs. Amonica Wiggins pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for the Lady Bucs.

The Lady Bucs will return to the hardwood Saturday, January 19, in another important GSC match-up with Harding University. The Lady Bison will play host to the contest in Searcy, Arkansas. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.