BETHANY, Okla. - Coming off a home win against East Central on Saturday, the Arkansas Tech Women's Basketball team carried that momentum into their dominating 80-52 road win against Southern Nazarene. The Golden Suns move to 7-4 overall on the season with a 4-2 record among GAC games.

The opening quarter was a slow start for Arkansas Tech committing two early turnovers in the opening minutes of the game which led to a jump shot from Southern Nazarene's Kennedy Gillette to grab the first basket of the game. Junior guard Ashlei Lopez struck right back with a layup of her own to put the Golden Suns on the board.

Gillette continued to score the ball in the first making another jumper and a quick layup, while Cassandra Awatt knocked down her own jumper to push the Crimson Storm to an early 8-3 lead over the Golden Suns with 5:00 minutes to go in the first.

Southern Nazarene continued their relentless offensive attack extending their lead over Tech to 17-5.

Following a timeout, the Golden Suns found some footing on offensive as senior guard Tori Lasker quickly scored a layup. Sophomore guard Kaley Shipman followed nailing a three pointer for her first basket of the game and Lasker closed out the quarter with a two point jumper. Tech closed the last 1:48 seconds of the first quarter with a 7-0 run and found themselves back in the game as they trailed 12-17 heading into the second quarter.

Both sides opened the second quarter with a couple of freebies at the line. With 6:48 left in the first half, a steal by freshman forward Julie Wagner led to an outlook pass down to senior guard Jayana Sanders for an easy fastbreak layup. Tech immediately found another steal in the very next possession this time coming from Lasker who passed it ahead to freshman guard Alex Hill for the strong fastbreak layup which gave the Golden Suns their first lead of the game at 21-20. 

A steal by Lasker led to another easy layup for the senior guard as Tech extended their lead over Southern Nazarene. The Golden Suns would score the next five points from the free throw line making the most of their opportunities from the stripe. A three from Shipman and a pair of free throws for Hill gave Arkansas Tech a 33-25 lead heading into the break.

The Golden Suns opened the second half strong with a two pointer from Shipman and a three ball from Lasker to push their lead to 39-26 over the Crimson Storm. Southern Nazarene continued to commit fouls against Tech, who were making the most of their chances for free points by knocking them down.

Another three point bucket from Shipman and layup from Lasker continued the dominant third quarter offensive performance for Arkansas Tech as they led Southern Nazarene 54-37 with 1:10 left in the third quarter. The Golden Suns closed out the third with a triple from Lasker and a two pointer from Sanders to finish with a 26 point quarter and hold a big 59-37 double digit lead over the Crimson Storm heading into the final quarter of action.

Lopez opened up the fourth quarter scoring for the Golden Suns converting an and one opportunity following a made layup on the Crimson Storm foul. The constant commitment of fouls continued from Southern Nazarene and Arkansas Tech continued to make them pay by sinking their shots from the charity stripe.

After a strong layup from Shipman with 2:12 left in the game led to a 75-51 lead, the Golden Sun starters checked out of the game and a lineup of all freshman came in to close out the game. Freshman guard Julia Reis came off the bench and knocked down her second three of the season for Arkansas Tech. Hill closed out the scoring for the game with two free throws as the Golden Suns walked away with a big time 80-52 road win over Southern Nazarene.

Leading the way for the Golden Suns against the Crimson Storm was Sanders with her fourth consecutive game scoring 20 points or more putting up 20 in this outing. The senior guard also added five rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal. Shipman was another high level contributor to the win with 18 points, seven boards and two steals. Rounding out the top players for Tech was Lasker who put up her first double double as a Golden Sun setting a new season high in points, rebounds and steals with 17, 11 and 5 in the win over Southern Nazarene.

The Golden Suns head to Shawnee, Okla. on Saturday for their next matchup against the Oklahoma Baptist Bison. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.