RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team was unable to stop a furious second-half comeback by Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday night as the Golden Suns were overtaken late and ultimately fell at home to UAM, 62-55.
After a closely played first quarter in which Tech held a one-point lead, 18-17, the Golden Suns began to create some separation between themselves and the Cotton Blossoms as they out-scored UAM 12-5 in the second quarter. With that strong second quarter, the Golden Suns went into the locker room with an eight-point lead, 30-22.
Just over halfway through the third quarter, UAM was able to get within three points of the Tech lead, but the Golden Suns managed to stave off the Cotton Blossoms in the moment and built out a nine-point lead before heading into the fourth quarter with a six-point advantage, 47-41.
The strong close to the third period by UAM carried over into the fourth quarter as the Cotton Blossoms scored the first six points of the frame to tie the game at 47-all. With just under seven minutes to play, UAM grabbed the lead with an old-fashioned three-point play.
The Golden Suns had a quick answer on a layup by
Dessie McCarty to go back up by a point, but the Cotton Blossoms flipped the lead back in their favor on the next trip down the court with a three-pointer and led by two, 53-51, with 6:31 to play.
Neither team scored over the next three minutes or so of game action until
Julie Wagner hit a mid-range jumper at the 3:45 mark to tie the score back up, this time at 53-all. Unfortunately, the Cotton Blossoms had another quick answer and scored the next trip down the court to stay in the lead. UAM would go on to out-score Tech 7-2 over the final three minutes of play to give them the win.
The Golden Suns had three players in double figures and were led by Wagner and her 14 points.
AbbiGrace Cunningham was next with 13 points while
Dessie McCarty rounded out double-figure scoring with 12 points.
The Golden Suns will now enter into the Christmas break and will next return to the court on January 4 on the road at Ouachita Baptist. Tip-off for that game is scheduled for 1 p.m.
