GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH GOLDEN SUNS 9-5 (7-3 GAC)	HARDING BISONS 13-4 (9-1 GAC)
Monday, January 23 | 5:30 p.m. Tucker Coliseum | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LISTEN LIVE GAME NOTES

The conference portion of the 2022-23 regular season slate for the Arkansas Tech women's basketball team approaches the mid point as the Golden Suns continue Great American Conference Play with a solid 7-3 GAC record and stand tied for third place.

The gauntlet of conference games continues on Monday as Tech prepares to host their travel partner and major conference rival: The Bisons from Harding University. The game against the visiting Bisons is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off time inside Tucker Coliseum on Monday night.

This will be the first matchup of the 2022-23 season between the Bisons and the Golden Suns.

In the last meeting between these two teams, the Golden Suns took down Harding in a thrilling 68-65 victory in the semi-final round of
the Great American Conference Tournament to send them home and move on to the finals.

In terms of all-time series histories, this will be the 78th matchup between Tech and Harding in the all-time series. As it currently stands, the Golden Suns hold a 62-16 winning all-time record against the Bisons.
 

The Golden Suns continue Great American Conference play with a solid 9-5 overall record and one of the best conference records at 7-3. In the GAC standings, the Golden Suns are tied for second. In the Golden Suns most recent win, they dismantled a Ouachita Baptist team 64-62 in Tucker Coliseum for a statement win. The Golden Suns were down by as many as ten points in the fourth quarter of the game, but fought all the way back to take the lead. The play that sealed the game was a clutch steal on defense by Alex Hill with ten seconds left to close out the game with a win on the comeback.

Statistically, this year, the Golden Suns are averaging 73.1 ppg and rank second in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Golden Suns rank fifth in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 63.8 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Golden Suns are fifth in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .420 (392-of-934) and are limiting their opponents to a .354 mark (315-of-891) to rank first in the GAC.

From beyond-the-arc, the Golden Suns are shooting at a clip of .266 (67-of-252) to rank 12th in the GAC, while their opponents are making three-pointers at a mark of .318 (103-of- 324) to rank eighth. From the free throw line, the Golden Suns are shooting .649 as a team (172-of-265) to rank 11th.

Individually, the Golden Suns have two players averaging double figures in scoring. Jalei Oglesby leads the way at 18.7 ppg, which is the third best scoring average in the GAC. Oglesby has proven to be one of the most efficient scorers in the GAC this season hitting her shots from field goal range at a high clip of .532 (109-of-205), which is the second best mark in the conference. On top of her scoring, Oglesby also resides within the top ten in the conference in rebounds (6th), free throw percentage (9th) and offensive rebounds (3rd). Kaley Shipman has also provided a big lift as the other double figure scorer for the Golden Suns at 12.2 ppg. On the road against Southeastern, Shipman scored a season-high 20 points to power the Golden Suns to another conference win.

The Golden Suns are coached by Dave Wilbers, who is in his 16th season on the sidelines at Tech. A member of the 300-career win club, Wilbers has a career record of 336-112.

Overall in his time at Tech, Wilbers has kept the Golden Suns as perennial contenders in the GAC, the region and the nation, winning 20 or more games nine times, capturing seven conference regular championships, five conference tournament championships and advancing to nine NCAA Regional Tournaments.
 

Harding enters Monday's conference game with a 13-4 overall record and 9-1 GAC record. Currently in the Great American Conference standings, the Bisons are tied for first-place with Southern Nazarene.

So far this season, the Bisons have picked up conference wins against Ouachita Baptist, Southern Arkansas, Arkansas- Monticello, Henderson State, East Central, Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene.

The only GAC loss Harding has suffered was to Southeastern, who had only won a single conference game at that point in time and are currently tied for last in the standings.

Statistically this season, the Bisons average 71.0 ppg on offense to rank fourth in the GAC and give up an average of 59.8 ppg to rank third in the GAC. In terms of field goal percentages, HU shoots at a .436 clip overall (443-of-1015) to rank second and are allowing opponents to shoot at the same mark they shoot at .367 (371-of-1011) to rank third.

From three-point range, the Bisons shoot at a .297 clip (68-of- 229) to rank ninth in the GAC and are allowing their opponents to shoot .311 (108-of-347) from range to rank seventh. At the charity stripe, the Bisons shoot .661 (253-of-383) to rank tenth in the GAC.

Individually, the Bisons have four players scoring in double figures and are led by Sage Hawley who is averaging 19.6 ppg on a team-high .540 (141-of-263) field goal percentage average. Hawley holds the second best scoring average and the best field goal percentage average in the GAC. She is also the leading rebounder in the conference with a 10.7 rebound per game average and the second best shot blocker in the league on a 2.12 block per game average.

Following Hawley for Harding is Jacie Evans who currently averages 13.5 ppg. Closing out the list of double-figure scorers for the Bisons are Rory Geer and Aubrey Isbell who average 11.0 and 10.9 ppg, respectively.

The Bisons are coached by Tim Kirby, who is in his 18th season at the helm of Hardings women's basketball program. In his time as the head coach of the Bisons, Kirby has a massed a 325-163 record.