MAGNOLIA, Ark. – They let 'em play on Thursday night inside the W.T. Watson Center.  A contact-heavy evening saw Southern Arkansas outlast Oklahoma Baptist 76-69 down the stretch as the Muleriders snapped a two-game skid to earn a key Great American Conference win and remain in the thick of a crowded league standings. The victory moves the Muleriders to 4-7 in GAC action which currently has the team in 11^th place, but only two games back of third.
 
Behind a season-high 18 points from the trigger of junior guard Kylie Warren and 15 points from classmate guard Diamond Morris, SAU held off the Bison which erased a 19-point deficit and cut the host's lead to just three points with ten seconds to play moments before the Muleriders put the game on ice with four straight free throws.
 
With under three minutes remaining in the game and the shot clock waning, senior forward Kisi Young nailed a turnaround jumper from just inside the three-point stripe along the right wing to build the Muleriders' lead to seven at 68-61. Forty-five seconds later, Warren knocked down an uncontested look, her final of five three-point makes in the win, from the left wing giving SAU an eight-point advantage and enough cushion to fend off the late charge from OBU.
 
The Muleriders carried a 34-26 lead at the break and added to the eight-point lead with six more points than the Bison in the third quarter to take a 14-point benefit into the final ten minutes. SAU would need all 14 points as OBU produced a 19-10 run that was slowed by Young and Warren's aforementioned makes and ended at the stripe with two free throws each from senior guard Ariana Guinn and Young.
 
Southern Arkansas connected on 13 of its 33 attempts from three-point range in the win. As of late, the Muleriders have engineered a stupendous effort from beyond-the-arc having knocked down at least 11 threes in three of their previous four games, including back-to-back affairs with 13; one off the single-game program record set earlier this season at East Central. Nine times this season, SAU has hit at least ten trifectas and in six games, the Muleriders have sank at least a dozen.
 
The thirteen makes from range came from a collective five players. Warren's five were joined by three from the shot of Morris, two each from junior guards Mychala Linzy and Jessica Jones and one from junior guard Kenzie Ezekiel. Warren also led SAU with six rebounds and collected three steals. Morris, Young and Jones each followed with five rebounds. Ezekiel dished out five of the team's 17 assists.
 
Southern Arkansas returns to action on Saturday inside the W.T. Watson Center for a 1 p.m. showdown with Southern Nazarene. The Crimson Storm dismissed Arkansas-Monticello 94-44 on Thursday night. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.