RUSSELLVILLE, Ark.— The Arkansas Tech men's and women's basketball teams take to the road to conclude the first half of Great American Conference play Thursday evening at Harding.
The No. 8/12 Golden Suns (14-1, 9-0 GAC) kick off the doubleheader action at 5:30 in a matchup of the two top squads in the conference. The Bisons (13-2, 9-0) enter with an equally spotless record in league play, and the two sides are Nos. 1 and 2 in the conference in both scoring offense and scoring defense. Harding has won nine straight games since dropping a pair over the Thanksgiving holiday, and have an 18-game regular season conference winning streak dating back nearly a year. Tech has put together a string of six consecutive victories, all over GAC foes. Tech took 52 of the first 55 games in the all-time series before Harding swept all three meetings a year ago, including in the conference semifinals.
The Bisons are led by Arielle Saunders' 16.3 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, and her 11 double-doubles on the season is ninth-best in the country. She also helps the team to the nation's 10th-best rebounding margin and 14th-best scoring margin. They also allow opponents to convert just 34.2 percent of their field goal chances, a number that's below just four other teams in Division II. Montana Lewis adds 10.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, and point guard A'ndrea Haney adds 9.5 points per game to go with 58 assists and 32 steals.
The Golden Suns enter the contest in the top seven in the country in four different catagories, including fourth in field goal percentage at 47.9. Tech is sixth in both rebounding margin and scoring margin, and seventh in scoring, putting up 80.5 points per game.
Fatima Adams is coming off the biggest game of her Tech career, as she put up 26 points and tied a school record with 22 rebounds, and hit a pair of free throws in the final seconds to tie the game and send it to overtime in an eventual 84-72 victory over East Central. Her averages are now up to 21.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per outing.
Anissa Pounds and
Katrina Hayden continue to put up double-digit points at 12.9 and 12.0, respectively.
The Wonder Boys (8-9, 4-5 GAC) look to right the ship as the first half of league play closes, as they're on a three-game skid capped by Saturday's last-second loss at the hands of one of the GAC frontrunners in East Central. The Bisons (7-8, 5-4 GAC) have put together a modest two-game winning streak, but have won six straight and are 7-1 overall at home this season.
Harding's Andraz Kavas is averaging 19.1 points per game, second best in the GAC, and 6.9 rebounds. Jacob Gibson (13.2 ppg) and Blake McNair (12.0) also average double digits, while Will Francis puts up 7.0 points per game to go with 54 assists and 16 steals. As a team, the Bisons put up 26.5 shots from beyond the arc per game. Their 10.3 makes per game puts them 12th in the country, putting them at a 38.8-percent clip.
Tech holds opponents to just 32.5 percent from deep, second in the GAC, helping the team to the league's fourth-best scoring defense at 69.3 points per game. The Wonder Boys turned in one of their best performances of the season Saturday against East Central, hitting 51.1 percent from the field, including 36.4 from 3, and dishing out a season-high 15 assists.
Mike Balogun turned in his second 20-point effort of the weekend with 23, hitting 6-of-12 3-pointers along the way, and
Clarence Willard added 12 points and eight assists off the bench. The performance bumped Balogun to 14.1 points per game on the season, while
Nick Wayman is at 9.9 and Willard 9.2.
Tech leads the all-time series 76-57, while Harding is 31-27 at home. The Wonder Boys have won 12 of the past 18 dating back to the 2007-08 season, and swept last year's regular season set before falling in the GAC semifinals.
The games will be carried live on 100.9 (KWKK) in Russellville, with live video, audio and statistics available at
www.arkansastechsports.com.
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