ALVA, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team fell just short of a season-sweep of Northwestern Oklahoma as they lost on the road to NWOSU, 67-64, on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Suns held the early advantage over the Rangers as they led wire-to-wire in the first quarter thanks, in part, to 50% shooting from the floor (6-of-12). Northwestern was not totally out of the game despite trailing the entirety of the first quarter as they were only down by three heading into the second.
In the second quarter, the game started to go back-and-forth as Northwestern grabbed their first lead of the game at the 9:19 mark. That initial lead was short-lived as Tech's
Maisa Marcal buried a three-pointer to give the lead right back to the Golden Suns, but a successful two-shot trip to the free throw line for the Rangers followed on the ensuing possession to swing the lead back in their favor.
The Rangers would hold a small lead over Tech until the 3:28 mark when
Jordyn Rollins cashed in a three-pointer off an assisted pass from her older sister,
Jaki Rollins. By the 1:23 mark, however, NWOSU was leading by three. Shortly thereafter,
ClaraGrace Prater knocked down a three of her own to tie score at 31-all.
The Golden Suns eventually ended the half with a one-point lead after a split trip to the line with under a minute.
Play remained tightly-contested between the two throughout the duration of the third quarter as neither team led by more than four points during the period. There were also four tie scores and one lead change in the third quarter.
The last of the tie scores in the third quarter came right at the end as
Hayleigh Wyrick cleaned up a Golden Suns missed shot and put it back for a tying layup. Wyrick then put Tech up at the start of the fourth quarter on a three-pointer.
The rest of the fourth quarter was no different from what had transpired earlier as neither team was really able to break away from the other while the lead changes hands on numerous occasions.
Ultimately, the final lead change occurred at the 5:56 mark of the fourth quarter and went in favor of NWOSU. After grabbing the lead, the Rangers were able to hold of the Golden Suns' advances and thanks to solid free throw shooting down the stretch were able to push their lead out to its largest margin of six points with less than 10 seconds to go before Tech's
Alex Hill hit a three to bring the score to its final of 66-63.
The final shot made by Hill pushed her to the top of Tech's scoring for the game as she ended with 13. Marcal was next with 12 while
Dana Thompson rounded out double-figure scoring with 10 points. Wyrick was not far off that pace with nine off the bench.
The Golden Suns will now prepare for their final home game of the season this coming Thursday night against Henderson State. Prior to the game, which is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., the Golden Suns will honor the two seniors on this year's team,
Maisa Marcal and
Dana Thompson.
