ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team picked up a pivotal win on the road on Saturday afternoon as they outlasted Ouachita Baptist by a score of 66-63.
A major factor in the Golden Suns coming away with the win was the overall play of
Dana Thompson. The junior forward not only notched her seventh double-double of the season, but she did so with an eye-popping 20 rebounds. Nearly half of her rebounds were on the offensive glass as she had nine of Tech's 14 offensive rebounds.
Thompson's 20 total rebounds were the most in a game since 2015 when former All-America standout Fatima Adams pulled down 22 rebounds against East Central to tie the Tech single-game record.
While Thompson's 20 boards certainly were important to the Golden Suns' victory, arguably, it was her clutch free throws in the waning seconds of the game that matter the most.
After having a 10-point lead with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter, the Golden Suns were twice forced to hold on to a single-possession lead over the final 20 seconds. The first of those saw
ClaraGrace Prater double a two-point Tech lead with a pair of makes at the 17-second mark, but a three-pointer by Ouachita on the other end of the court trimmed the Golden Suns' lead to a single point with 11 seconds left in regulation.
The Golden Suns then used their final timeout to advance the ball beyond half court. On the ensuing inbounds play, the ball was inbounded to Thompson, who three seconds later, was fouled, sending her to the line for two with just eight seconds left on the clock.
Already with 10 points and two prior free throw makes to her ledger at that point, Thompson was clutch and buried both attempts to put the Golden Suns up by three, 66-63.
After her makes, Thompson then made the final play of the game as she did not allow the Tigers a chance to attempt a potential game-tying three-pointer by forcing a turnover after Ouachita got the ball just past half court.
Joining Thompson in double-figure scoring was Prater with 15 and
Alex Hill, who led all scorers with 21 points.
The Golden Suns will now prepare for their final regular season road trip across state lines where they will take on Southwestern Oklahoma and Northwestern Oklahoma next week. The Southwestern Oklahoma game is up first and will take place on Thursday, February 22 at 5:30 p.m.
