MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team remained hot on Saturday afternoon as they won on the road at Southern Arkansas, 61-52. The win was their second-straight and fourth in their last five.
It also secured the No. 5-seed for the Golden Suns in the upcoming Great American Conference Tournament. As the No. 5-seed, the Golden Suns will play No. 4-seeded Henderson State in their opening round game. That rematch from just this past Thursday is scheduled for a 5:45 p.m. tip-off from FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma on Friday, March 8.
In their game at SAU on Saturday, the Golden Suns led wire-to-wire and opening up with a 7-0 lead thanks to a three-pointer by
ClaraGrace Prater, a painted jumper
Alex Hill and a layup by
Dana Thompson.
SAU would mount a comeback and got as close as three points on three occasions in the first quarter and within a point early in the second quarter, but the Golden Suns would not relinquish the lead at any point.
In the third quarter, after leading by two at the break, the Golden Suns pushed their lead out double-digits, 31-21, by the 6:57 mark. An 11-2 run by SAU over the next three or so minutes of the quarter pulled the Muleriders within a point once more, this time, 33-32, with 3:14 to play in the third.
The Golden Suns then got a clutch second-chance bucket by
Julie Wagner after Thompson followed her miss and found Wagner for the painted jumper. Tech would go on to lead by four by the end of the third, 41-37.
In the fourth quarter, the Golden Suns began to gain the separation needed to put the game away and pushed their lead out as large as 12 points, 55-43, by the 3:13 mark of the period. SAU hit a pair of threes to make things interesting, but 4-of-4 shooting by the Golden Suns over the final 1:16 of the game secured the nine-point win.
Statistically, the Golden Suns three players scoring in double figures and were led by 16 points apiece from Prater and Thompson.
Alex Hill was next with 15. Thompson also hauled in 17 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season.
