MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Two Alyssa Hamilton free throws with less than five seconds to play in regulation forced overtime inside a raucous W.T. Watson Center on Thursday night, but it was a late bucket in the extra period from Oklahoma Baptist's Katy Custer that proved to be the difference as the Lady Bison escaped Southern Arkansas, 91-88.

The Lady Muleriders (17-8, 13-8 GAC) sit in a third-place tie with Southwestern Oklahoma State with one game remaining on the regular season docket, before the GAC Basketball Championships in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, that are set to begin a week from today. Full of back-and-forth action from the onset, Thursday night's overtime thriller was an appropriate contest as the calendar nears March.

Southern Arkansas led 20-16 after the first 8:45 of the opening quarter, before the Lady Bison used the next 21 seconds to score six-straight points, with a pair of those three baskets coming off of Lady Mulerider turnovers. Jaida Harden dropped her first three-pointer of the evening on the next possession, before OBU ended the quarter with a pair of makes at the charity stripe.

A 24-23 Oklahoma Baptist lead after the opening ten minutes grew to nine points in the second quarter as the Lady Bison pushed the tempo on a 16-8 run to the 5:24 mark. That 4:30-plus stretch from OBU came in large part to beyond-the-arc shooting as OBU converted all four of their triple-tries. But Southern Arkansas used the last 5:30 minutes of the quarter to chip away at the Lady Bison lead as five players found the bottom of the net led by Rosa Bryant's six.

In a game full of key plays and momentum swings, SAU overcame that nine-point deficit in the second quarter when a block by Hamilton resulted in Bryant finding Shana Holmes in transition to tie the game at 44, before the Lady Bison took a 49-46 lead into the break.

The high-tempo action slowed in the third quarter as both teams took advantage of the bonus from the charity stripe going a combined 22-of-26 from the line in the first ten minutes outside of intermission. At the 2:55 mark of the third quarter, Holmes netter a triple-try that gave Southern Arkansas a 60-59 lead, before Harden used a trio of free throws to tie the game at 64 with 1:59 left in the third quarter.

With less than seven minutes to play in regulation, Southern Arkansas trailed by eight, 76-68, before a 6-0 run capped off by a pair of Rachel Medina free throws, who entered the game after Tierra Tucker drew a hard foul while driving to the basket, brought SAU to within a bucket. Four Lady Bison points put SAU down six, but another three-pointer from Holmes and a pair of free throws from Bryant chased the Lady Muleriders to within a point, 80-79 with 2:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Shunta Nevitt scored inside on a turn-around hook shot that gave SAU a short-lived 81-80 lead as a Tasha Edge three-pointer on the Lady Bison end put OBU up two, before Hamilton converted the pair of aforementioned free throws that forced the overtime period. In the final five minutes, OBU outscored Southern Arkansas 8-5 as the Lady Muleriders shot 2-of-7 from the floor in the extra period. A Caroline Ficher three-pointer off glass with 36 seconds left brought SAU to within a point at 89-88, but Southern Arkansas was unable to convert on a three-point try after the Custer basket put OBU up three.

Despite being outsized down low, Southern Arkansas outscored the Lady Bison in the paint, 38-28, but Oklahoma Baptist shot 43.5% (10-of-23) from deep, while out-rebounding SAU 40-36. The Lady Muleriders took advantage of second-chance points outscoring OBU 16-4 in the category, while also receiving quality production from their bench as freshmen Hamilton and Harden combined for 25 of SAU's 29 non-starter points.

Bryant finished with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting with eight rebounds; her 12^th game this season with 20-plus points. Holmes added 15 points and a team-high five assists, while Harden finished with 13 points and Hamilton with a dozen to round out double-figure scoring for the Lady Muleriders. Holmes shot 3-of-7 from long range and added three steals in 45 minutes of action. Hamilton was 8-of-12 from charity stripe to lead SAU as the Lady Muleriders shot just under 80% from the line for the game.

Southern Arkansas returns to the court inside the W.T. Watson Center for the final time in the 2015-16 season as they welcome in Southern Nazarene for the regular season finale on Saturday, February 25. Tip-off on Senior Day is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Lady Muleriders defeated SNU 90-78 back on January 9.

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.