RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Hannah Villines scored a game-high 26 points, while Jayana Sanders added 15 points but the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns (13-15, 10-12 GAC) came up short, falling 84-68 to No. 10 Southwestern Oklahoma State (27-1, 22-0 GAC) on Saturday afternoon at Tucker Coliseum.
 
NEXT UP

• The Golden Suns will travel to Bartlesville, Okla. to play in the Great American Conference tournament on Thursday, Mar. 7. Tech will be the No. 7 seed and will play No. 2 seed East Central with a noon tipoff scheduled.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Southwestern Oklahoma State opened the game on a 10-3 run.
• Tech rallied back to take its first lead of the game at 11-10 after Hannah Villines hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
• The next two minutes featured five lead changes with the Suns holding a one point advantage (16-15) with 2:22 remaining in the first quarter.
• SWOSU scored the final nine points of the first quarter, taking an eight point advantage (24-16).
• The Lady Bulldogs scored the first points of the second quarter to take a ten-point lead, their largest lead of the first half.
• Tech outscored SWOSU 11-4 over the next four minutes, trimming the deficit to three (30-27).
• Southwestern stretched its lead back to nine (38-29), however once again Tech was able to cut into the lead as two layups from Higgins to end the half put the score at 40-24 going into the break.
• Villines opened the second half with her second 3-pointer of the game to cut the SWOSU lead back to three (40-37).
• The Lady Bulldogs outscored Tech 6-2 over the next two minutes to extend its lead back to seven (46-39).
• Four straight points from Jayana Sanders brought Tech within three (46-43) at the 6:34 minute mark.
• Southwestern used an 8-3 run to go up by eight (54-46).
• Tech was able to pull within five after a Villines layup and Sanders free throw, but a strong finish to the quarter by SWOSU, saw the Lady Bulldogs take a 62-52 lead into the fourth quarter.
• SWOSU maintained control in the fourth quarter as Tech was only able to cut the deficit to nine (69-60) after Villines hit her third 3-pointer of the game.
• Southwestern outscored Tech 13-6 down the stretch, leaving Tucker Coliseum with an 84-68 win.

NOTABLES

• Arkansas Tech held a 46-38 rebounding advantage.
• SWOSU forced 19 Tech turnovers and scored 22 points off those miscues.
• SWOSU held a 46-30 advantage in points in the paint and a 14-6 advantage in fast break points.
• Villines led all scorers with 26 points. She also added three rebounds and three assists.
• Sanders and Higgins were the only other Golden Suns players to score in double-figures as Sanders scored 14 points and Higgins added 10.
• Higgins also added six rebounds and five assists.
• Lyrik Williams scored seven points and grabbed a team-high ten rebounds in her final game at Tucker Coliseum.