RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - Following their close loss on the road to Maryville last Thursday, the Arkansas Tech women's basketball team gets their momentum back with a big 80-53 win over Lane College at home in Tucker Coliseum. With the the win, the Golden Suns advance to 2-1 overall on the season.
Senior guard
Kaley Shipman got the scoring started for Arkansas Tech in the first quarter nailing her first three-point bucket of the afternoon. Following two trips to the free throw line for the Golden Suns where they went 1-for-2 on both, Shipman collected a defensive rebound, after a Lane College miss, and drove down the court where she connected on another triple to give her team an 8-2 lead with 8:30 left to play in the first quarter.
Both teams went quiet on offense for almost two minutes of game time before Shipman found an open
Dana Thompson to break the offensive silence knocking down the mid-range jumper. Thompson would score the next basket for Tech as well off the assist from
Jalei Oglesby to extend the lead out to 12-7. The Golden Suns closed out the first quarter of play with a trio of layups from
Marta Duda, Claragrace Prater and Thompson to end it with an 18-12 lead over the Dragons.
To start the second quarter, the Dragons came out on the attack quickly getting two back-to-back layups to fall to make it just a two-point lead for the Golden Suns as they stayed ahead 18-16. Oglesby turned the offensive engine on and got the team back on track with two layups to give them some breathing room on the scoreboard.
The Golden Suns continued to be aggressive on offense making their next two-of-three baskets in the paint. Oglesby stayed the driving force of the Golden Sun offense in the second quarter knocking down a pair of three-pointers and a successful trip to the charity stripe to give the Golden Suns a double-digit 39-29 lead heading into the break.
Oglesby dominated on offense in the second quarter scoring 14 of her total 18 points in the quarter. The Howe, Okla. native also shot a perfect second quarter going 5-of-5 on all her shots from the floor, 2-of-2 from long range and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Arkansas Tech continued to control the course of the game following the break as the third quarter began. A steal by Oglesby led to a fastbreak transition as she found a cross court pass opportunity to an open
Alex Hill underneath the basket who sunk the layup off the assist to open up the third quarter scoring for Arkansas Tech.
Claudia Bridges found her first points of the game with a skillful coast-to-coast layup following the defensive rebound by Thompson to keep the Golden Suns well in front up 44-31 over Lane College. Following a good mid-range jumpshot from Thompson, Oglesby came up with another steal that led to a pass to an open
Jaki Rollins at the other end of the floor for a nice fastbreak transition layup. After a two-point bucket by Prater that gave the Golden Suns a 54-43 lead with 2:11 left to play in the third quarter,
Anna Myers found her way into the passing lanes to collect a steal, then passed it ahead to Bridges who found an open
Hayleigh Wyrick on the wing to knock down the three ball.
The Golden Suns scored their final six points of the third from the free throw line as they headed into the final quarter of play with a 63-43 lead over Lane College.
In the final quarter of action,
Sarah Edmondson got the scoring started for the Golden Suns with a layup inside off the assist from Myers at the top of the key. The defense to offense for Tech continued as Duda picked up a steal and passed it ahead to Wyrick who went coast-to-coast for the great finish off the glass. Wyrick would score the next bucket for the Golden Suns as well with another layup in the paint to push the Golden Sun lead up to 70-48 with 6:26 left to play in the game.
Two back-to-back steals by Rollins and Duda led to more great offensive finishes as Edmondson got a fastbreak layup to fall on the assist by Hill, while Hill connected on a three-point basket off the assist from Edmondson on the next possession after the steal by Duda. The final points of the night came from Hill who nailed another shot from beyond-the-arc as the Golden Suns picked up the 80-53 win over the Dragons.
Individually, the Golden Suns had four players hit the double figure scoring mark in the game with Oglesby leading the way at 18 total points on 6-for-10 shooting from field goal range and going 2-for-2 from behind three point territory. Following Oglesby was the pair of Shipman and Hill who each recorded 12 points in the game against Lane College. Both also had a good afternoon shooting the ball as Shipman went 4-of-8 from the floor, while Hill knocked down 3-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from long range. Thompson was the final member of Arkansas Tech to record double figures in scoring with 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting.
In terms of rebounds,
Julie Wagner and Duda led the team with seven boards each. Wagner was especially active on the offensive glass as four of her seven total rebounds were offensive. Leading in assists was Oglesby with four, while Hill assisted on three plays.
Defensively, Oglesby, Wagner and Duda led the charge on steals with two each. Rollins and Oglesby locked down the rim protection as each came away with two blocked shots in the game.
The Golden Suns will get a few days off for the Thanksgiving holiday before they return to action once more on Sunday as Christian Brothers comes to town. The game against Christian Brothers is set for a 2:30 p.m. tip-off in Tucker Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
