BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Fatima Adams scored a career-high 43 points, grabbing 10 rebounds to help the No. 15 Arkansas Tech Golden Suns basketball team (25-3) to a 99-85 win over Southern Arkansas (19-9) in the semifinals of the Great American Conference championship on Saturday.

NEXT UP

• The Golden Suns will square off against Southwestern Oklahoma for the Great American Conference championship at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 6. The game will be carried live on ESPN3.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The two teams played relatively evenly over the first three minutes, with Tech and SWOSU tied at six with 7:16 to play in the opening quarter.
• After SWOSU knotted the game again at 10-10, Tech edged ahead 12-10 by the first quarter's media timeout (4:47).
• After Tech pulled ahead 16-12 with 2:20 remaining, SAU cut the margin to one (16-15) just 18 seconds later after a 3-point play.
• SAU claimed its first lead (17-16) with 1:56 to play in the opening quarter.
• Tech led 20-19 at the end of the first quarter.
• Calli White buried a pair of long 3-pointers in the opening minute of the second quarter to help give the Golden Suns a 28-21 lead.
• Tech opened up a 14-point (51-37) lead with 1:02 to play before settling in with a ten-point (51-41) lead at the half.
• SAU scored the first four points of the second half to pull to within six (51-45) with 9:09 to go in the third quarter.
• Tech opened up an 11-point (56-45) with 7:09 remaining in the third quarter, but the Muleriders quickly cut that back to seven (56-49) with 6:09 to play.
• The Golden Suns stretched the lead back to 12 (63-51) after Adams converted a 3-point play after the third quarter media timeout (4:52).
• A baseline jumper by Danielle Frachiseur at the 4:02 mark tied the previous largest lead of 14 points (65-51).
• SAU closed the third quarter on a 13-4 run to pull to within five (69-64) after three quarters.
• Tech used a 10-2 run to open the half to push its lead to 13 (79-66) with 6:32 to play.
• The Tech lead was stretched out to 15 (83-68) after a layup by Adams, and took a 15-point (85-70) lead into the fourth quarter media timeout (4:43 mark).
• The Golden Suns took their largest lead of the contest (17 points) after an Adams layup with 3:25 to play.

 
NOTABLES

• Adams reached double figures in points for the 54^th time in her Arkansas Tech career (55 games).
• Adams becomes just the fourth Golden Suns player to score 40 or more points in a game.
• Tech held a 49-38 rebounding advantage.
• The Golden Suns committed just eight turnovers while forcing the Muleriders to commit 17.
• Bre Brooks and Kelsey McClure added 14 points apiece.
• Tech held a 15-11 advantage in points off turnovers, a 15-11 advantage in second chance points, a 21-20 advantage in bench points, a 54-40 advantage in points in the paint, and a 10-8 advantage in fast-break points.