RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - A close first quarter didn't stop the Golden Suns from picking up a nice 84-63 win over Christian Brothers on Saturday afternoon.
The first-half of action saw two ties and two lead changes all coming in the final minutes of play in the first quarter. Tech ended the first quarter by taking back the lead after a last-second layup by forward Nikki Metcalfe fell to give them a 20-19 lead heading into the second quarter.
The second quarter was all about the Golden Suns as they scored 17 and held the Lady Buccaneers to just six points in the quarter. Arkansas Tech closed out the first-half with a 7-0 run to head into the break with a strong 37-25 lead.
Once again Arkansas Tech set the tempo for the third quarter outscoring Christian Brothers 26-16 with a strong 58.82% field goal percentage and 40% from beyond the arc. The Golden Suns ended the third quarter with a very comfortable 63-41 lead.
Christian Brothers would outscore Tech 22-21 in the final quarter of play, but it was too late as the damage was already dealt. The Lady Buccaneers would open the final quarter with a strong 7-0 run. In the end, Christian Brothers could not close the gap as Tech would walk away with a nice 85-63 win.
Leading the scoring effort for the Golden Suns was junior guard Ashlei Lopez with 22 points. Lopez shot a solid 53% from the floor and went 1-2 from long range. The junior guard also added 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Junior forward Nikki Metcalfe followed Lopez with a solid 15 points off of 54% (6-11) shooting from the field. Metcalfe also poured in 9 boards and 3 blocked shots. Senior guard Jayana Sanders added 12 points to the scoring effort for the Golden Suns and had a solid afternoon on defense picking up 3 steals.
The Golden Suns will head to San Angelo, Texas for their next outing where they will be competing in the Angelo State Invitational for some non-conference action. The first game of the weekend will be against Texas Women's University on Friday, November 26 with a 2 p.m. tip-off.
