GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH GOLDEN SUNS 12-12 (9-11 GAC)	HENDERSON STATE REDDIES 17-9 (13-7 GAC)
Thursday, February 29 | 5:30 p.m. Tucker Coliseum | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO | GAME NOTES

TIPPING OFF
The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team remains in the hunt for a berth into the upcoming Great American Conference Tournament and will look to secure that spot on Thursday night in their final home game of the season against Henderson State.
 
This will be the 98^th meeting all-time between Arkansas Tech and Henderson State in a series that dates back to 1977. Overall, Tech holds a commanding 75-22 lead in the series. Since the two became charter members of the GAC prior to the 2011-12 season, the Golden Suns are 19-11 against Henderson State.
 
This will be the second game between the Golden Suns and Reddies this season. The met in Arkadelphia back on December 9. Henderson State won that initial meeting, 84-80.
 
Tip-off for Thursday night's game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. from Tucker Coliseum.
 

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Golden Suns are 12-12 overall on the season and are 9-11 in the GAC and currently in sixth place in the conference standings with two games left in the regular season. Heading into Thursday night's game, the Golden Suns are one game up on Southern Arkansas and Oklahoma Baptist, who are tied for seventh place and two games up on Ouachita Baptist, who is on the outside-looking-in at the tournament in ninth-place.
 
Most-recently, the Golden Suns are coming off a close three-point loss on the road at Northwestern Oklahoma this past Saturday.  
 
At this point of the season, the Golden Suns average 68.7 ppg and rank fifth in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Golden Suns rank sixth in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 63.4 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Golden Suns are third in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .416 (602-of-1,447) and are limiting their opponents to a .353 mark (507-of-1,435) to rank third.
 
From beyond-the-arc, the Golden Suns shoot at a clip of .295 (112-of-380) to rank ninth in the GAC while their opponents make three-pointers at a mark of .300 (157-of-524) to rank sixth. From the free throw line, the Golden Suns shoot .689 as a team (332-of-482) to rank 10th.
 
Individually, the Golden Suns have two players averaging double figures and are led by Alex Hill and her 12.0 ppg. Behind Hill in scoring is Dana Thompson at 10.3 ppg. Just out of double-figure scoring is Maisa Marcal at 9.9 ppg.
 
Thompson leads the team in rebounding and is averaging 9.4 rebounds per game. In terms of assists, Marcal lead the team and is averaging 4.5 assists per game.
 
Defensively, the Golden Suns are led in steals by Marcal at 2.7 steals per game and in blocks by Julie Wagner at 1.1 blocks per game.
 
The Golden Suns are coached by Dave Wilbers, who is in his 17th season as Tech. During his time at Tech, Wilbers has amassed a 354-133 overall record. Nine times, Wilbers has won 20 or more games at Tech and twice has won 30 or more. In terms of national rankings, a Wilbers-led team has been nationally-ranked at any point in a season 10 times. Among those, he has guided the Golden Suns to the top of the rankings on a pair of occasions during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
 

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SCOUTING THE REDDIES
Henderson State is 17-9 overall this season and are 13-7 in the GAC where they are locked in as the No. 4-seed in the upcoming 2024 GAC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. The Reddies have won two-straight games, both on the road, as they won at East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma last week.
 
Statistically, the Reddies average 72.4 ppg and rank second in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Reddies rank 12th in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 70.0 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Reddies are sixth in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .403 (634-of-1,575) and limit their opponents to a .403 mark (656-of-1,628) to rank 10th.
 
From beyond-the-arc, the Reddies shoot at a clip of .350 (217-of-620) to rank first in the GAC while their opponents make three-pointers at a mark of .324 (133-of-410) to rank 11th. From the free throw line, the Reddies shoot .781 as a team (397-of-508) to rank first.
 
Individually, the Reddies have three players averaging double figures in scoring and are led by Ashley Farrar and her 15.3 ppg. Natalie Cardenas is next at 11.9 ppg while Tori Gittens rounds out double-figure scoring at 11.5 ppg.
 
Makenna Winans is the team-leader in rebounding and is averaging 5.9 rebounds per game. In terms of assists, Farrar leads the team and is averaging 1.8 assists per game.
 
Defensively, the Reddies are led in steals by Oliva Allen at 0.9 steals per game and in blocks by Winans at 1.0 blocks per game.
 
The Reddies are coached by Jill Thomas, who is in her 11th season at Henderson State as head coach and her 15th overall. At Henderson, Thomas has a 164-134 record and carries an overall head coaching record of 229-182.