RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The nation’s top-ranked teamsuffered its first loss of the season, while two others remained undefeated in conference play to highlight the results of Thursday night’s Great American Conference women’s basketball games.
SOUTHWESTERN OKLHOMA STATE 85, ARKANSAS TECH 82
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The nation’s top-ranked team for the past two weeks suffered its first loss of the season as Southwestern Oklahoma State (7-5, 2-1 GAC) upset Arkansas Tech (9-1, 1-1 GAC) 85-82 on Thursday at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse. The victory was the first for SWOSU over a No. 1 team in schoolhistory, and improved the Bulldogs to a perfect 5-0 at home. ATU experienced shooting woes during the first half of its first conference road game of the year, but it was the SWOSU’s three-point shooting that put the Golden Suns down 46-28 at half. The Bulldogs made 10 three-pointers in the first half on 19 attempts, while limiting ATU to just one trey in the first half.
SWOSU RECAP // ATU RECAP // BOX SCORE
HARDING 65, EAST CENTRAL 49
ADA, Okla. – The Harding Lady Bisons (9-3, 2-0 GAC) kept their unbeaten conference record intact on Thursday by picking up a 65-49 over East Central (2-11, 0-3 GAC) on the road Thursday at the Kerr Center. The Lady Bisons started fast, jumping out to an eight-point lead at the 9:04 mark of the first half, and never looked back. HU never trailed the Lady Tigers throughout the final 37 minutes of the game and grew its lead to as much 20 points in the final two minutes of regulation behind the individual performances of Sierra Rollins (18 points, 6 rebounds), Kristen Celsor (16 points) and Arielle Saunders (12 points). ECU was led byJourdan Clark and Fanta Toure with eight points each.
ECU RECAP // HU RECAP // BOX SCORE
OUACHITA BAPTIST 85, SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 70
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas (0-13, 0-3 GAC) led at halftime for the first time this season, but Ouachita Baptist (9-4, 2-1 GAC) improved its field goal shooting by almost 10 percent in the second half to grab a come-from-behind win over the Lady Muleriders on Thursday at home by a final score of 85-70. The contest featured a back-and-forth battle until the 15:03 mark of the second half, when OBU took the lead for the final time on a fast-break bucket by Erica Sharp. Including that bucket, the Lady Tigers went on a 9-0 scoring run to lead 53-44 with 13:20 remaining in regulation. OBU later took its largest lead of the game at 18 points with 1:20 remaining o a three-pointer by Allie Brown. OBU could not find an answer for the post play of SAU’s Kmaria Hobbs, who made 8-of-12 shots from the field and 11-of-13 from the foul line for a game-high 27 points. OBU was led by A’Laeshia Adams’ 19 points.
SAU RECAP // BOX SCORE
HENDERSON STATE 78, SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 64
DURANT, Okla. – Henderson State (10-3, 3-0 GAC) held on to the top spot in the GAC standings and remainded undefeated in conference games by tallying a 78-64 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State (6-7, 2-1 GAC) on the road Thursday at Bloomer Sullivan Arena. The victory marks the first time HSU has started 3-0 in conference play since the 2005-06 season, while also making the Lady Reddies the only team in the league with three conference wins and 10 overall wins this season. HSU’s successful field goal shooting in the second half (15-of-30) helped the Lady Reddies pull away from the Savage Storm, which was also undefeated in league play heading into Thursday’s contest. Cheree Freeman led the way for HSU by collecting a game-high 24 points, and adding 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Southeastern was led by Jessica Hesse’s 13 points off the bench.
SOSU RECAP // HSU RECAP // BOX SCORE