ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team bounced back from a tough loss on the road at No. 11 Harding on Thursday with a hard-fought 93-86 win on the road at Ouachita Baptist on Saturday afternoon.
The game at Ouachita was not one for the faint of heart on Valentine's Day as there were a total of 12 tie scores and 15 lead changes throughout the game. Additionally, both teams shot well over 40% from the floor and made 26 free throws.
Ouachita had the lower of the two field goal percentages in the game but still shot 44.3% (27-of-61). The Golden Suns, on the other end of the court, were highly-efficient with a 57.7% shooting performance (30-of-52).
At the end of the first quarter, the Golden Suns held five-point lead, 26-21, but by the end of the second quarter, had swung in front and led by two points at the break, 44-42. The separator appeared to come in the third quarter as Tech out-scored the Tigers, 24-18, to take a four-point lead into the fourth, 66-62.
The Golden Suns would not trail at any point in the final quarter, but Ouachita did get as close as two points with just under five minutes left and continued to apply the pressure as they seemingly matched Tech's scoring down the stretch.
All told, the two teams combined for 51 points in the final quarter with Tech scoring 27 and Ouachita, 24. A significant amount of those points for Tech came at the free throw line as they were 12-of-13 during the fourth quarter. That nearly flawless time spent at the line, helped the Golden Suns keep their distance from the Tigers and eventually take a seven-point win, 93-86.
The Golden Suns had three players score in double figures with four others with at least seven points each.
Logan Young led the team in scoring with 24 points followed by
AbbiGrace Cunningham with 21.
Shalyn Lyle rounded out double-figure scoring with 11 points.
Perina Leime,
Dessie Lancaster and
ClaraGrace Prater added eight points each.
Tech will now prepare for two more games on the road next week as they will travel to Southeastern Oklahoma on Thursday night and then to East Central on Saturday afternoon.
