RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Tech, Arkansas-Monticello, Southeastern Oklahoma State and Southwestern Oklahoma State all recorded convincing wins to highlight Saturday’s Great American Conference women’s basketball contests.
ARKANSAS TECH 79, HENDERSON STATE 64
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – 14th-ranked Arkansas Tech (19-3, 10-3 GAC) recorded its eighth consecutive victory and received help from Southeastern OklahomaState’s win over Harding to move into sole possession of first place in the GAC standings by defeating Henderson State (12-11, 5-8 GAC) 79-64 on Saturday at home inside Tucker Coliseum. After scoring the game’s first points at the 17:05 mark of the opening period, the Golden Suns led throughout the entire contest, including a 12-point lead in the first half and an 18-point lead in the final 20 minutes. ATU’s Katie Horsman led all scorers with 27 points, highlighted by a 6-of-15 outing from three-point range. Jessica Weatherford turned in 16 points and 12 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season, while Roselis Silva scored 15 points and had a game-high 11 assists for her fourth double-double. Sheay Longstaff led HSU with 13 points.
ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 65, EAST CENTRAL 45
ADA, Okla. – Arkansas-Monticello (9-14, 5-8 GAC) used a dominant first half to record a 65-45 road-victory over East Central (7-17, 5-9 GAC) on Saturday inside the Kerr Center. The UAM win evens the season series between the twosquads at one win each. The Cotton Blossoms outscored the Lady Tigers 36-19 in the first 20 minutes, making 50 percent of their shots while holding ECU to 33 percent. Both teams shot poorly in the second half. ECU again was 33 percent from the field, while UAM dropped to 30 percent. The major difference in the contest was a thre free-throw line. UAM was 20-of-26 at the charity stripe,while ECU was just 5-of-13. UAM never trailed in the contest after a brief back-and-forth battle in the first three minutes of the first half. UAM’s Taylor Clark led all scorers with 15 points, while teammate Channon Haywood turned in 10 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the year. DilanWebster led ECU with 10 points in 26 minutes off the bench.
SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 87, HARDING 68
DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State (10-14, 6-8 GAC) snapped a four-game losing streak by knocking Harding (16-7, 9-4 GAC) out of first place in the GAC by defeating the Lady Bisons 87-68 at home on Saturday inside Bloomer Sullivan Arena. The Southeastern win evens the season series between the two squads at one win each. The Savage Storm connected on a season-high 15 three-pointers in the win over Harding, eight coming from Nikki Nester alone, who ended the game with a career-high 28 points. Nester also had six assists in the win. Southeastern led by as much as 20 points in the first half and 27 points in the second half. In addition to Nester’s game-high 28 points, Southeastern was also led by Bailey Welch with 14 points and Jessica Hesse with 11 points. Kristen Celsor led the Lady Bisons with 23 points. HU’s Arielle Saunders added 18 points and 12 rebounds for her third double-double of theseason.
SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 98, SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 66
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Southwestern Oklahoma State (15-9, 10-4 GAC) tallied its highest scoring output in conference games this year in a 98-66 win over Southern Arkansas (2-12, 2-11 GAC) at home on Saturday inside Rankin Williams Fieldhouse. It is SWOSU’s second win over SAU this season. The Bulldogs stayed above 50 percent shooting for the entire contest and used the paint to score the majority of their points. SWOSU outscored SAU 52-30 in the paint and 23-9 off turnovers. SWOSU finished the game shooting 56.7 percent from the field(34-of-60), while SAU shot 41 percent (25-of-61). The Bulldogs never trailed in the win over SAU, leading by as much 14 points in the first half and 33 points in the second half. SWOSU finished with five scorers in double-figures, led by Sumiya Darden with 16 points. Katherine McBride and Kmaria Hobbs led the Lady Muleriders with 15 points each. Hobbs turned in a game-high 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. SAU’s Shenelda Livingston added 12 points and 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the year.