SEARCY, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team played the first of two "Rivalry Night" games of the season against (rv) Harding on the road on Thursday night and came up short, 61-48.
Harding, who was receiving votes in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top-25 poll, led wire-to-wire. Despite trailing throughout the game, the first half saw the Golden Suns be highly-competitive and keep the game within reach.
After Harding grabbed their largest lead of the first quarter, nine points with 3:58 to play, the Golden Suns ripped off an 8-0 run over the next two and a half minutes of action to pull within a point, 15-14. The Lady Bisons would hit a three-pointer near the end of the period, however, to take a four-point lead, 18-14.
In the second quarter, the Lady Bisons out-scored Tech by three to give them a seven-point lead at the break, 29-22.
The third quarter saw Harding be able to create the separation needed to put the game away as they out-scored Tech, 17-9 in the period. Most of the scoring for the Lady Bisons in that quarter came at the free throw line as they were 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. The other 10 points came on five made field goals inside the arc as they were 0-for-2 from long range.
Staked to a 15-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, Harding built their lead out as large as 20 points by the 3:55 mark before the final margin of 13 by the final horn.
Statistically, the Golden Suns had two players score in double figures and were led by
AbbiGrace Cunningham with 14. Cunningham was 6-of-9 shooting overall and made 1-of-2 from three-point range and 1-of-2 from the free throw line.
Andie Zylak was the next leading scorer with 10 points. Zylak also led the team in assists with four.
The Golden Suns will now remain on the road for their next game as they will play at Arkansas-Monticello. That game is scheduled to tip-off at 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 25.
