MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Senior guard Ariana Guinn and classmate forward Kisi Young each delivered ten points and both players knocked down a pair of free throws in the final ten seconds of play, while Southern Arkansas defended well on the perimeter, used a big second quarter shooting from range and held off a late surge by Southeastern Oklahoma to earn a key 64-60 Great American Conference win on Thursday night inside the W.T. Watson Center. The victory runs the SAU Women's overall record back to .500 at 11-11 and raises their league mark to 6-10 which keeps fourth-year head coach Adam Collins' squad in the conference tournament race.
 
A slow developing first quarter of action; a 13-7 SAU lead after ten minutes of play, quickly picked up the pace before the intermission as the Muleriders carried a 35-25 lead into the half following a 22-point second quarter which came courtesy of an 8-for-16 shooting clip from the field with six of those makes from three-point range. Coming out of the break, the Savage Storm (9-13, 7-9 GAC) controlled more of the action outscoring SAU 13-12 in quarter three and 22-17 in the final ten minutes as the Muleriders held off SOSU with the aforementioned free throws.
 
With under 75 seconds to play, the Savage Storm shrunk an 11-point SAU advantage down to just a bucket at 60-58 on a jumper from the stroke of Kamyrn Cantwell. Southern Arkansas would be unable to convert a bucket on the other end, but received a big time block by junior guard Diamond Morris on a drive to the basket by Cantwell with 44 seconds to play.
 
The Muleriders defended very well from beyond-the-arc as SOSU managed just three makes in 12 first-half attempts, while missing all five attempts from range in the final twenty minutes. SAU outrebounded the visitors 41-35.
 
In that second quarter, junior Mychala Linzy hit a three at the 8:39 mark and then collected a steal which led to a Kenzie Ezekiel trifecta by way of Jessica Jones 12 seconds later. Morris increased SAU's lead to 22-16 with a three-point make with 6:45 to play before the half, while Jones sank an attempt from range to give SAU some breathing room at 27-23 with 3:10 left in the half.
 
The final two minutes of the first half saw Ezekiel nail another attempt from beyond-the-arc moments before Jones again knocked down a three that pushed the Mulerider lead to 35-25 with less than 70 seconds to play before halftime.
 
Seven of Young's ten points were delivered in the fourth quarter. She added eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Guinn recorded three assists and claimed a steal and a rebound. Linzy knocked down a trio of threes to go along with two rebounds and two steals. Morris scored nine points with three boards, one block and an assist.
 
The Mulerider Women return to action on Saturday, February 12 for a 1 p.m. tip-off against East Central from inside the W.T. Watson Center. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.