SEARCY, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech Women's Basketball team falls 77-85 to Harding on the road. The Golden Suns move to 7-5 overall and 5-5 in conference play.
Arkansas Tech started strong with a two point basket from
Jayana Sanders and a pair of free throws from Lasker put them up by two early in the first. A three point bucket from Lasker pushed the Tech lead to 7-2 with 7:37 left in the opening quarter.
Both teams fought hard against each other for the rest of the quarter leading to five more total lead changes before the end of the quarter. After the first, the Golden Suns found themselves down by one as Harding led 18-17 heading into the second quarter of play.
Harding started the second quarter hot quickly hitting three straight buckets and a three pointer to to go up by eight in the middle of the second. The Bisons outscored the Golden Suns 30-16 in the second quarter to hold a 48-33 lead heading into the break.
The Golden Suns shot well at the free throw line tonight making the best use of their shots from the line, but Harding continued to mount the pressure and extend their lead. Arkansas Tech ended the third quarter outscoring Harding 17-16, but the Bisons still held a 14 point 64-50 lead heading into the final quarter of action.
The Bisons opened with a three pointer and a layup, but
Kaley Shipman fired right back to knock down a three ball of her own as the Golden Suns trailed 55-69 with 7:28 left in the final quarter of play. Tech was down 57-72 with 6:07 left to play in the game when they opened up a path to a comeback following a good jumper from
Ashlei Lopez and two made free throws from Sanders and Lasker to put the game back within 10. Another Jumper from Lopez, one from Lasker, two layups  from
Nikki Metcalfe and a jumper from Shipman brought the game to within single digits as Harding only held a four point 78-74 lead following the 15-4 run by the Golden Suns.
The lead Harding was able to establish early was just enough to give them the win over Tech.
Leading the scoring effort for the Golden Suns was Shipman with 24 points shooting 47% (8-for-17) from the floor, 66% (2-for-3) from long range and a perfect 100% (6-for-6) from the charity stripe. The sophomore guard also collected six rebounds in the contest. Sanders notched a double-double with her 13 points and 11 boards for the Golden Suns in the game. The senior guard also went perfect from the line (9-for-9) against Harding. Closing out the top players in the game was Lasker with 12 points, three rebounds, five assists and a steal.
The Golden Suns will remain on the road as they head to Arkadelphia, Ark. to take on Ouachita Baptist on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
