GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH GOLDEN SUNS 9-9 (6-8 GAC)	#5/#1 SOUTHERN NAZARENE CRIMSON STORM 20-0 (14-0 GAC)
Thursday, February 8 | 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 is back at home on Thursday and will be looking to do something that no team has done yet this year, and that's beat Southern Nazarene.
 
This will be the 31st meeting all-time between Arkansas Tech and Southern Nazarene in a series that dates back to the 1985-86 season. Overall, Tech holds a 19-11 lead in the series. Since the two became conference foes within the GAC prior to the 2012-13 season, the Golden Suns are 15-8 against SNU.
 
This will be the second game between the Golden Suns and Crimson Storm this season. The met in Bethany back in mid-January. Southern Nazarene won that initial meeting, 71-67.
 
Tip-off for Thursday night's game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. inside Tucker Coliseum.
 

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Golden Suns are 9-9 overall on the season and are 6-8 in the GAC. The Golden Suns are coming off a close loss on the road at East Central this past Saturday.
 
At this point of the season, the Golden Suns average 69.3 ppg and rank fifth in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Golden Suns rank fifth in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 61.8 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 .417 (458-of-1,098) and are limiting their opponents to a .343 mark (366-of-1,068) to rank second.
 
From beyond-the-arc, the Golden Suns shoot at a clip of .303 (84-of-277) to rank eighth in the GAC while their opponents make three-pointers at a mark of .302 (120-of-398) to rank seventh. From the free throw line, the Golden Suns shoot .674 as a team (248-of-368) to rank 11th.
 
Individually, the Golden Suns have two players averaging double figures and are led by Alex Hill and her 12.9 ppg. Behind Hill in scoring and rounding out double-figure scoring is Dana Thompson at 10.4.
 
Thompson leads the team in rebounding and is averaging 9.0 rebounds per game. In terms of assists, Hill lead the team and are averaging 2.8 assists per game each.
 
Defensively, the Golden Suns are led in steals by Hill at 2.0 steals per game and in blocks by Thompson and Julie Wagner at 1.0 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 351-130 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 CRIMSON STORM
Southern Nazarene is 20-0 overall this season and are 14-0 in the GAC. The Crimson Storm are the last remaining unbeaten team in all of NCAA Division II basketball. Despite not having lost yet this season, the Crimson Storm have had some close calls with five games decided by single digits with one of those coming in their most-recent game at home against Henderson State.
 
One of the other close calls for the Crimson Storm was against Arkansas Tech in their first meeting back on January 13. SNU beat Tech by just four points, 71-67.
 
Statistically, the Crimson Storm average 68.0 ppg and rank sixth in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Crimson Storm rank first in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 53.7 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Crimson Storm are second in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .434 (489-of-1,127) and limit their opponents to a .338 mark (401-of-1,186) to rank first.
 
From beyond-the-arc, the Crimson Storm shoot at a clip of .337 (124-of-368) to rank fourth in the GAC while their opponents make three-pointers at a mark of .277 (90-of-325) to rank second. From the free throw line, the Crimson Storm shoot .737 as a team (258-of-350) to rank sixth.
 
Individually, the Crimson Storm have three players averaging double figures in scoring and are led by Lauryn Reither and her 17.2 ppg. Hannah Giddey is next at 13.2 ppg followed by Emily Monaghan, who rounds out double-figure scoring at 12.7 ppg.
 
Giddey is the team-leader in rebounding and is averaging 10.5 rebounds per game. In terms of assists, Giddey leads the team and is averaging 5.6 assists per game.
 
Defensively, the Crimson Storm are led in steals by Reither at 2.8 steals per game and in blocks by Giddey at 3.8 blocks per game.
 
The Crimson Storm are coached by Trent May, who is in her sixth season at Southern Nazarene as head coach and his 22^nd overall at the college level. As head coach at SNU, May has a 113-46 record and overall he is 435-199.