MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Junior Rosa Bryant sparked the Lady Muleriders in the second half, scoring 12 of SAU's 28 second-half points in addition to snatching four rebounds in just nine minutes to help lead the second-half barrage which saw the Lady Mulerider basketball squad pull away from Southern Nazarene, 63-42, Thursday evening in their first home conference game at W.T. Watson Center.

"I thought the crowd was awesome tonight," head coach Rusty Rainbolt said. "It was good to see all of those people in there cheering. Our fraternities and sororities were out there – that was a lot of fun. I thought the kids played really hard. That's kind of what we want to be known for. We want people to get out there and say, 'Man, they don't play like girls.' We're trying to shoot it fast and press and run, and the girls just did great tonight. Rosa did great tonight. She was the key to that tonight."

After SAU (2-1, 1-0 GAC) jumped out to a 14-9 lead, SNU (2-1, 0-1 GAC) used an 8-0 run to pull ahead 17-14. The Lady Muleriders responded with a 10-0 run of their own, ending the run on five straight points from senior Chanel Miller via two free throws and a trifecta.

The Crimson Storm scored seven of the next 10 points to cut the Lady Mulerider lead to three at 27-24, but SAU countered by closing out the half with eight straight points on a Miller jumper and two free throws, a Tierra Tucker layup and two Cemetra Jenkins free throws to take a 35-24 lead at the break.

The Lady Muleriders shot 67 percent (6-9) from three-point range and 90 percent (9-10) from the free-throw line in the first half.

SAU had seven steals from six different players and forced 14 turnovers in the second half while Bryant paced the Lady Muleriders to victory. SAU limited SNU to just 26 percent (6-23) shooting in the second half.  

"Turnovers are the name of the game," Rainbolt said. "We focus a lot offensively on taking care of the ball. Defensively, we are trying to force turnovers because that's one less shot that they get when they turn it over. We have to get activity to create chaos."

The Lady Muleriders forced 28 turnovers on the night and scored 22 points off of those Crimson Storm mistakes. SAU also outscored SNU in the paint 22-12, in second-chance points 12-2 and in bench points 30-15.

Miller finished with a team-high 13 points and three steals while Tucker dished out six assists. Bryant nearly had a double-double with 12 points and seven rebounds.

"It was very exciting," Bryant said. "The fans were behind us and our team did a great job playing together for our first conference win.

As for Bryant's stellar second-half performance, the first-year transfer from Baton Rouge Community College attributed much of her success to working fast in transition.

"I love running in transition," Bryant said. "It's my favorite. Get up the court and go and catch the defense sleeping."

The Lady Muleriders return to action Saturday versus conference foe Southeastern Oklahoma at 2 p.m. in W.T. Watson Center.