MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Behind Rosa Bryant's 18^th double-double of the season, sixteen points and seven assists by Shana Holmes and a collectively dominant inside scoring game, the Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider Basketball team cruised past Ouachita 84-55 for their third-consecutive victory on Saturday afternoon inside the W.T. Watson Center.

The Lady Muleriders (17-7, 13-7 GAC) moved into a three-way tie for second-place in the Great American Conference standings with the win and with help from losses by Harding (80-67 loss to Henderson State) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (85-81 overtime loss to Oklahoma Baptist) with just two games remaining on the regular season schedule.

Southern Arkansas had their way in the paint as they outscored the Tigers 40-12 and also turned 18 Ouachita turnovers into 17 points, while the Tigers only produced eight points off of a dozen Lady Mulerider turnovers. SAU also outscored Ouachita 18-4 in transition. As a team, Southern Arkansas produced a season-high 14 steals as they held their tenth opponent this season to under 60 points.

With their largest lead of the game at 31 points late in the fourth quarter, SAU cruised from the onset as they jumped out to a 14-0 lead highlighted by a quick six points from Caroline Ficher to begin the game on their way to a 10-point advantage at the break, 39-29.

Ouachita outscored SAU in the second quarter 18-14, but the Lady Muleriders engineered a big second half in front of the home faithful as they outscored the Tigers 45-26, while shooting over 45% from the floor and 75% from the charity stripe in the final two quarters of action.

Bryant's 23^rd double-double of her career came in the form of 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 10 rebounds. Holmes' 16 points came at 6-of-8 from the floor, while adding a game-high seven assists. Tierra Tucker and Ficher rounded out double-figure scoring for SAU as both players went for 11 points with Tucker adding six rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals, while Ficher collected a game-high three steals.

SAU returns to the court for the final week of action in the GAC regular season with a Thursday tip-off against Oklahoma Baptist slated for 5:30 p.m., before welcoming in Southern Nazarene on Saturday for a scheduled 1 p.m. tip-off. Both games will be held inside the W.T. Watson Center. SAU lost 89-81 on the road to league-newcomer OBU back on January 7, before topping SNU 90-78 in their highest GAC-scoring output in program history two days later in Bethany.

Be sure to visit muleriderathletics.com for continuing coverage of Lady Mulerider basketball including pregame and postgame updates and the coach's show with head coach Julio Pacheco.