RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team dropped a tough 52-75 game against Harding on Monday night in Tucker. Following the game, the Golden Suns are 9-6 overall with a 7-4 record in Great American Conference play.
The Golden Suns had a great performance and effort in the first half against the visiting Bisons.
Kaley Shipman opened up the scoring for the Golden Suns with a layup off the glass inside. A few possessions later, following a successful 2-for-2 trip to the free throw line for
Julie Wagner,
Alex Hill found
Claudia Bridges wide open from outside three-point territory and swung a pass back to the Fayetteville, Ark. native who knocked down the triple from beyond-the-arc to give the Golden Suns a 7-4 lead with 7:28 left to play in the opening quarter.
A jumpshot by Wagner once again extended the lead for Arkansas Tech, but Harding would knock down a shot of their own to tie the game at 9-9. The Golden Suns would find themselves on top once again following a steal from Hill that eventually led to a made layup by
Jalei Oglesby on the offensive end of the court. A pair of made free throws by Hill at the line and a jumpshot inside the paint by Oglesby rounded out the scoring for the Golden Suns in the first quarter as they ended tied 17-17 with the Bisons.
Shipman once again got the scoring started for Tech to begin the second quarter getting a jumpshot inside the paint to fall over the Harding defender. The Bisons would pull ahead, but a layup inside by Bridges and two-point jumper inside by Oglesby would tie the game up at 23-23 with just over five minutes left to play in the first half.
Back-to-back layups by Olgesby and a three-ball from
Hayleigh Wyrick, off the assist from Bridges, would give the Golden Suns the lead once again at 30-27.
To close the first half of action, Wyrick sunk her second shot from long range and
Dana Thompson banked in a layup off the glass following the pass from Oglesby to give the Golden Suns a 35-33 lead over Harding heading into the halftime break.
Arkansas Tech outscored Harding 18-16 in the second quarter of the game.
Following the halftime break, the Bisons came back and started hot. The Golden Suns would give their best effort in the third quarter, but would only make 12.5% (2-of-16) of their shots from the floor in the quarter. From the free throw line, the Golden Suns did their job going a perfect 6-of-6 in the quarter from the charity stripe, but the Golden Suns would be outscored 21-10 in the third quarter as they headed into the final quarter of action down 45-54.
In the fourth quarter, the Golden Sun offense would continue to try and stay afloat and get back in the game, but Harding would take the game 72-52.
Individually, Oglesby led the scoring effort for Arkansas Tech with 19 total points to go alonside seven rebounds. Following Oglesby was Shipman with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals. Shipman provided a big lift at the line for the Golden Suns going a perfect 6-of-6.
The Golden Suns will be back in action on Thursday as they hit the road to make the long trip to Weatherford, Okla. to face off against Southwestern Oklahoma State. The road game against the Bulldogs is set for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off Thursday night.
