GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH GOLDEN SUNS 13-8 (11-6 GAC)	HARDING BISONS 18-6 (14-3 GAC)
Monday, February 13 | 5:30 p.m. Rhodes-Reaves Field House | Searcy, 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 final stretch as the Golden Suns continue Great American Conference Play with an 11-6 GAC record and stand in third place overall.

The gauntlet of conference games continues on Monday as Tech prepares to travel to Searcy, Ark. to take on the the Bisons of Harding University. The game against the Bisons is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off time in Rhodes-Reaves Field House Monday night in Searcy.

This will be the second 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 a tough loss at home in Tucker Coliseum to Harding by a score of 52-72. The Golden Suns aim to split the season series in Searcy on Monday night.

In terms of all-time series histories, this will be the 79th matchup between Tech and Harding in the all-time series. As it currently stands, the Golden Suns hold a 62-17 winning all-time record against the Bisons.
 

The Golden Suns continue Great American Conference play with a 13-7 overall record and one of the best conference records at 11-4. In the GAC standings, the Golden Suns are currently in third place.

In the Golden Suns most recent stretch, they took down both Southwestern Oklahoma State and Northwestern Oklahoma State on the road. They also beat East Central at home in Tucker Coliseum and took down Oklahoma Baptist on the road in Shawnee.

Statistically, this year, the Golden Suns are averaging 70.5 ppg and rank third 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 63.9 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 .412 (557-of-1353) and are limiting their opponents to a .355 mark (469-of-1322) to rank second in the GAC.

From beyond-the-arc, the Golden Suns are shooting at a clip of .249 (88-of-354) to rank 12th in the GAC, while their opponents are making three-pointers at a mark of .319 (143-of- 448) to rank eighth. From the free throw line, the Golden Suns are shooting .673 as a team (278-of-413) to rank 11th.

Individually, the Golden Suns have two players averaging double figures in scoring. Jalei Oglesby leads the way at 19.8 ppg, which is the best scoring average in the Great American Conference. Oglesby also holds the second best field goal percentage in the GAC knocking down .520 (170-of-327) of her shots from the floor on the season. Kaley Shipman has also provided a big lift as the other double figure scorer for the Golden Suns at 12.6 ppg.

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 341-116.

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 an 18-6 overall record and 14-3 GAC record. Currently in the Great American Conference standings, the Bisons are right above the Golden Suns in second.

So far this season, the Bisons have picked up conference wins against Ouachita Baptist (2x), Southern Arkansas (2x), Arkansas-Monticello, Henderson State, East Central (2x), Oklahoma Baptist (2x), Southern Nazarene, Arkansas Tech, Southeastern and Southwestern Oklahoma.

The only GAC losses Harding has suffered is to the two worst teams in the conference in Southeastern and Northwestern Oklahoma, who currently sit as the bottom two of the conference. The Bisons third loss came against Southern Nazarene.

Statistically this season, the Bisons average 69.2 ppg on offense to rank fourth in the GAC and give up an average of 57.3 ppg to rank first in the GAC. In terms of field goal percentages, HU shoots at a .424 clip overall (606-of-1430) to rank third and are allowing opponents to shoot at a mark of .353 (494-of-1401) to rank first.

From three-point range, the Bisons shoot at a .298 clip (97-of- 325) to rank 11th in the GAC and are allowing their opponents to shoot .288 (137-of-475) from range to rank second. At the charity stripe, the Bisons shoot .681 (352-of-517) to rank ninth in the GAC.

Individually, the Bisons have four players scoring in double figures and are led by Sage Hawley who is averaging 19.2 ppg on a team-high .524 (193-of-368) 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 10.4 rebound per game average and the second best shot blocker in the league on a 2.2 block per game average.

Following Hawley for Harding is Jacie Evans who currently averages 13.2 ppg. Closing out the list of double-figure scorers for the Bisons are Rory Geer and Aubrey Isbell who average 10.8 and 10.3 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 .