WEATHERFORD, Okla. - The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team took down Southwestern Oklahoma State 79-72 on the road on Thursday evening to pick up another conference win. The Golden Suns snap the Bulldogs three-game win streak and move to a near perfect 5-1 record on the road in conference play. Following the game, Tech advances to 10-6 overall and are still tied for third place in the GAC standings with an 8-4 record.

Overall on the night, the Golden Suns had one of their best offensive performances of the season, especially in terms of efficiency, where they knocked down 50.0% (29-of-58) of the shots they took from field goal range in the game as a team. In the first half alone the Golden Suns shot lights out from field goal range hitting 63.0% (17-of-27) of their shots. 

To open the game, the Golden Suns went on a 9-3 run that saw buckets from Kaley Shipman, Claudia Bridges and Alex Hill. In those opening minutes of action, two of the three made baskets were assisted on and one came in transition following a steal by Hill that led to a layup on the other end of the court for Bridges on the fastbreak.

Southwestern Oklahoma State would fight their way back into the game tying the contest at 9-9 with 6:20 left to go in the opening period of play. Following the small run for the Bulldogs, the Golden Suns would kick their offense back into high gear as Jalei Oglesby and Dana Thompson would pick up the pace for the team scoring the next five-of-six made baskets for the reminder of the first quarter.  Arkansas Tech would end the first period with a 23-20 lead. 

Oglesby went right back to work on offense to start the second quarter as she got a layup of the glass to fall from the assist by Hill. Shipman, Bridges and Thompson quickly followed Oglesby start to the second quarter each knocking down their own shots to give Arkansas Tech a 31-25 lead with 6:12 left to play in the first half. 

Late in the second quarter, Hill collected her second steal of the night and pushed a pass ahead to Thompson who got the jumpshot inside the paint to fall to extend the Golden Suns lead over the Bulldogs once again. The final bucket of the first half for Tech would come off a layup by Shipman to send them to the break ahead of the Bulldogs 41-35.

Coming out of the halftime break, Hill would score the first basket of the second half for the Golden Suns on mid-range jumpshot. Another pair of two-pointers from Thompson and Shipman would put the Golden Suns ahead by double digits at 49-39 with 6:18 left to go in the third. 

A few possessions later, Oglesby made a strong move inside to score a tough bucket in the paint with a foul to head to the line for the three-point play, which she converted. Oglesby continued to control the game offensively making shot after shot and scoring the next two baskets for Tech in the third quarter. The Golden Suns would head into the final quarter of play with a four-point lead at 58-54.

The Bulldogs would score the first basket of the final quarter off a layup to cut the lead down to just two as Tech held on to a 58-56 lead. Shipman and Oglesby would come up big with the next three made baskets for Arkansas Tech to give them some breathing room and extend their lead out to 65-58. 

In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, the Golden Suns showed a strong defensive effort coming away with two steals from Bridges and Oglesby as well as a blocked shot from Shipman in just the first two minutes to set the tone for the final period of play. 

From the 7:41 mark to the 5:12 mark of the fourth quarter, both teams hit a cold spell offensively as neither were able to find a bucket. The Golden Suns would break the scoring drought first as ClaraGrace Prater knocked down both of her shots at the line to keep the Golden Suns ahead 67-61 in the game. 

Once again, the Bulldogs found their way back into the game as a successful trip to the line made it just a two point lead for Tech, but a pair of layups inside from Shipman and Oglesby would give the Golden Suns the edge they needed to close out the game and pick up the road win against the Bulldogs 79-72. 

Leading the way for the Golden Suns was the reigning Great American Conference Player of the Week Oglesby who commanded the offensive attack with her third double-double in four games dropping a season-high 31 points on a stellar 12-of-19 shooting from field goal range to go alongside 11 rebounds. The Howe, Okla. native also shot an excellent 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

Following Oglesby was Shipman who put up 16 points alongside five rebounds, two assists and a block. Hill also put together a solid game scoring 12 points with six boards and led the team in both assists with four and steals with three. Rounding out the leaders in the win for Arkansas Tech was Thompson who scored 11 points and hauled in eight total rebounds. 

The Golden Suns will stay on the road and continue their long trek of Oklahoma as they get set for their road matchup in Alva, Okla. against Northwestern Oklahoma State. The game against the Rangers is set for a 1 p.m. tip-off in Alva on Saturday afternoon. 



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