SEARCY, Ark. – Kelsey McClure turned in a 14-point effort while Cheyenne North added 13 and Danielle Frachiseur added 11, but the No. 13 Arkansas Tech Golden Suns basketball team (11-2, 7-2 Great American Conference) was unable to overcome the stingy defense of the Harding Lady Bisons (12-2, 9-0 GAC) dropping a 72-58 decision on Monday night at Rhodes-Reaves Field House.
 
NEXT UP
Arkansas Tech returns to Tucker Coliseum this Thursday, January 19 to face off against Henderson State. A 5:30 p.m. tip-off is scheduled.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After the two teams traded leads over the opening three minutes of play, Harding used a 9-0 run to go from down 8-7 with 7:16 to go in the opening quarter to up 16-8 with 2:11 to play.
• Tech stopped a 4:05 scoreless drought with a jumper by Calli White with 1:56 to go.
• White hit her second straight jumper to pull Tech to within four (16-12) with 57 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
• Harding's A'ndrea Haney hit a layup with 31 seconds remaining in the quarter to give the Lady Bisons an 18-12 advantage after one quarter of play.
• Tech opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 18-18 after a pair of Danielle Frachiseur free throws with 6:41 remaining in the quarter. Frachiseur added a three-point play at the 5:14 mark to give Tech a 21-18 lead before Harding scored its first points of the second quarter at the 5:05 mark.
• Harding reclaimed the lead (22-21) on a Haney layup with 4:37 to go until half.
• After a 3-pointer by Kelsey McClure tied the game at 24-24 with 3:35 remaining, Harding scored the next eight points to open a 32-24 advantage going into the final seconds of the half.
• Kelsey McClure hit a layup with 21 seconds to play to cut Tech's deficit to six (32-26) at the break.
• Harding extended its lead to ten (36-26) after scoring the first four points of the third quarter.
• The Lady Bisons took their largest lead (to that point) of the contest at the 3:34 mark of the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Correy Moyer that put the Lady Bisons ahead by 16 points (48-32) and forced a Golden Suns timeout.
• Harding eventually led by 17 (53-36) in the closing moments of the third quarter before taking a 13-point (53-40) lead into the final quarter.
• Tech cut the Harding lead into the single digits (53-44) after a pair of buckets by Cheyenne North to open the fourth quarter.
• Harding reopened its lead to as many as 17 in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter and held on for the victory.

NOTABLES

• The loss ended Tech's win streak at ten games.
• Harding outshot Tech 43.3 to 35.1 percent.
• The Lady Bisons controlled the rebounding glass with a 37-35 advantage.
• Harding controlled the paint in the opening half, outscoring Tech 20-4 in the first 20 minutes of play – holding on to outscore the Golden Suns 34-22 in the paint for the game.
• Harding held a 14-9 advantage in points off turnovers and a 15-7 advantage in bench points, while Tech held a 12-9 advantage in second-chance points and a 4-0 advantage in fast-break points.
• North led Tech with eight rebounds.
• The Golden Suns committed 13 turnovers while Harding committed just seven.
• Tech blocked seven shots – all coming from North (4) and Frachiseur (3).
• With the loss, Tech falls two games behind Harding for first place in the GAC standings.
• With Henderson State's come-from-behind win over Ouachita tonight, Tech and HSU are tied for second place going into Thursday night's matchup.
• Tech and HSU are one full game ahead of fourth-place Southwestern Oklahoma, who fell at Northwestern Oklahoma.