GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH GOLDEN SUNS 2-1 (0-0 GAC)	ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO COTTON BLOSSOMS 4-2 (0-0 GAC)
Thursday, November 30 | 5:30 p.m. Steelman Fieldhouse | Monticello, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO GAME NOTES

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TIPPING OFF
Great American Conference play is set to get underway this weekend and the Arkansas Tech women's basketball team will do so on the road at Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday, November 30.
 
This will be the 107^th meeting all-time between Arkansas Tech and UAM in a series that dates back to 1973. Overall, Tech holds a commanding 77-29 lead in the series. Since the two became charter members of the GAC, the Golden Suns are 24-4 against UAM.
 
As conference foes, the two teams met twice last season in the regular season and split the series. Tech won the initial game at home, 75-63, while UAM won the game on their home court, 67-60.
 
Tip-off for Thursday night's game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. inside the Steelman Fieldhouse in Monticello.
 

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Golden Suns are off to an early 2-1 start to their season and are coming off an impressive 73-65 road win at Arkansas-Fort Smith last Tuesday prior to the Thanksgiving holiday break.
 
Early on, the Golden Suns average 82.7 ppg and rank third in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Golden Suns rank 11th in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 71.3 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Golden Suns are fourth in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .450 (91-of-202) and are limiting their opponents to a .421 mark (75-of-178) to rank 10th.
 
From beyond-the-arc, the Golden Suns shoot at a clip of .333 (17-of-51) to rank sixth in the GAC while their opponents make three-pointers at a mark of .323 (21-of-65) to rank eighth. From the free throw line, the Golden Suns shoot .766 as a team (49-of-64) to rank third.
 
Individually, the Golden Suns have three players averaging double figures and two more that are at least at 8.0 ppg. Alex Hill currently leads the team in scoring at 19.3 ppg. Behind her is Pacious McDaniel at 18.3 ppg. Hayleigh Wyrick rounds out double-figure scoring at 11.0 ppg while Dana Thompson is just off the double-figure average mark at 9.5 ppg.
 
McDaniel is also the team-leader in rebounding and is averaging 7.0 rebounds per game. In terms of assists, McDaniel also leads the team and is averaging 3.0 assists per game.
 
Defensively, the Golden Suns are led in steals by McDaniel at 2.7 steals per game and in blocks by a quartet of players at 0.7 blocks per game.
 
The Golden Suns are coached by Dave Wilbers, who is in his 17th season as Tech. During his time at Tech, WIlbers has amassed a 344-122 overall record. Nine times, Wilbers has won 20 or more games at Tech and twice has won 30 or more. In terms of national rankings, a Wilbers-led team has been nationally-ranked at any point in a season 10 times. Among those, he has guided the Golden Suns to the top of the rankings on a pair of occasions during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
 

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SCOUTING THE COTTON BLOSSOMS
UAM is off to a 4-2 start to their season and have won two-straight games with wins last week at home against Arkansas Baptist (67-47) and Arkansas-Fort Smith (61-53).
 
Statistically, the Cotton Blossoms average 67.7 ppg and rank 9th in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Cotton Blossoms rank sixth in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 58.2 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Cotton Blossoms are 10th in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .367 (158-of-430) and limit their opponents to a .369 mark (124-of-336) to rank seventh.
 
From beyond-the-arc, the Cotton Blossoms shoot at a clip of .188 (30-of-160) to rank 12th in the GAC while their opponents make three-pointers at a mark of .239 (27-of-113) to rank third. From the free throw line, the Cotton Blossoms shoot .583 as a team (60-of-103) to rank 12th.
 
Individually, the Cotton Blossoms have two players averaging double figures in scoring and are led by Bailey Harris at 13.2 ppg. Alindsey Long is next in scoring at 12.2 ppg. Haleigh Crews is just off the double-figure average mark at 9.8 ppg.
 
Harris is the team-leader in rebounding and is averaging 7.8 rebounds per game. In terms of assists, Jayla Sturgis leads the team and is averaging 2.2 assists per game.
 
Defensively, the Cotton Blossoms are led in steals by Azaria Hulbert at 2.0 steals per game and in blocks by Harris at 1.0 blocks per game.
 
The Cotton Blossoms are coached by David Midlick, who is in his second season at UAM and 10^th overall as a head coach. In his time at UAM, Midlick has amassed a 13-21 overall record. Overall, with stops at Delta State (2012-13 – 2017-18) and Austin Peay (2017-18 – 2020-21), Midlick has a career record of 143-125.