RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team secured their biggest win of the season on Saturday afternoon as they blew out visiting Arkansas-Monticello by a score of 94-42.
The 52-point margin of victory is by far the largest spread for the Golden Suns this season. It was also the first time that Tech has beaten a team by 50 or more points since the 2019-20 season when the Golden Suns beat Crowley's Ridge by 78 points, 114-36.
What ended up being the final result on Saturday between Tech and UAM could not have been predicted early on based on the play on the floor through the first seven minutes or so of action. During that time, the lead changed hands three times and the score was once at the 3:17 mark when it was 15-all.
Over the remainder of the first quarter and the game itself, it was all Golden Suns. With 2:42 left in the opening period, Tech broke the tie with a pair of free throws by
Hayleigh Wyrick. That was the start of an 11-3 run to close out the first quarter.
The Golden Suns then took complete control of the game in the second quarter and out-scored the Cotton Blossoms 28-9 in the period to cruise into halftime with a 27-point lead, 54-27.
There was absolutely no letup by the Golden Suns in the third quarter as they continued to swell their lead even larger as they out-scored UAM 20-3.
With a 44-point lead heading into the final quarter, the Golden Suns would not waste much time in pushing the lead to a half century, doing so on a jumper by Wyrick at the 8:54 mark. The lead eventually got at big as 54 points before the game ended with the aforementioned 52-point margin.
Overall, the Golden Suns shot 48.7% from the field (38-of-78) and were 7-of-11 from the free throw line (63.6%). The Golden Suns also enjoyed their best shooting game from long range this season as they made 11-of-20.
Individually, the Golden Suns had five players reach double figures with
ClaraGrace Prater leading the way with 15 points. Just off her pace was
Maisa Marcal with 14.
Jaki Rollins added 13 points off the bench while
Dana Thompson and Wyrick chipped in 12 apeice.
The Golden Suns will now prepare to hit the road next week as they play at Southeastern Oklahoma on Thursday night and at East Central on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off for the game at Southeastern is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
