RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Oklahoma representation of the Great American Conference recorded a sweep of the Arkansas schools to highlight the league’s Thursday night women’s basketball contests. Arkansas Tech was the victor of the league’s lone in-state matchup, recording a one-point victory at Arkansas-Monticello.
ARKANSAS TECH 77, ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 76
MONTICELLO, Ark. – Arkansas-Monticello (6-13, 2-7 GAC) rallied from down 19 points with seven minutes in regulation to within one point on two different occasions in the final two minutes, but a last-second shot was unsuccessful to give Arkansas Tech (14-3, 6-3 GAC) a 77-76 road victory to complete a season sweep over the Cotton Blossoms on Thursday night. UAM oustcored ATU 47-39 in the second half, but the Cotton Blossoms could not overcome ATU’s solid shooting throughout the contest. The Golden Suns connected on 16-of-27 field goal attempts in each half for a final mark of 59.3 percent. ATU also held a dominant edge in rebounding with a final margin of 41-15, which also helped the Golden Suns hold an 18-4 advantage in second chance points. ATU’s Katie Horsman led all scorers with 23 points, while Samanta Ludwig recorded her second consecutive double-double for the Suns with 22 points and 11 rebounds. AlexHart led the Cotton Blossoms with 22 points.
EAST CENTRAL 77, OUACHITA BAPTIST 72
ADA, Okla. – East Central (5-14, 3-6 GAC) fought off a 12-point deficit with 8:08 remaining in regulation to take a lead with 1:16 remaining to capture a 77-72 win at home over Ouachita Baptist (11-8, 4-5 GAC) on Thursday night to split the season series 1-1. ECU outscored OBU 24-7 in the final eight minutes, including holding OBU scoreless for the final 4:37. OBU led by as much as 12-points on two different occasions in the second half, and held a 50-36 final rebounding advantage. ECU won the turnover battle 22-11, which led to 13 points. ECU’s Fanta Toure collected a game-high 18 points in 20 minutes off the bench. Toure made 6-of-7 field goal attempts and 6-of-7 foul shots, and also added six rebounds to her final totals. Tamara Robinson led OBU with 13 points and 10 rebounds, her third double-double of the season.
SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 85, SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 75
DURANT, Okla. – After trailing by five points at halftime, Southeastern Oklahoma State (9-10, 5-4 GAC) shot 53.1 percent and outscored SAU 52-37 in the second half to capture an 85-75 win at home and earn the team’s second victory of the season over Southern Arkansas (2-17, 2-7 GAC) on Thursday night. It looked ugly for the Savage Storm early on, as the Lady Muleriders scored the game’s first 12 points in the first four minutes of the game. Southeastern responded with a 10-0 scoring run to cut the deficit to two points at the 12:50 mark of the opening period. Southeastern gained its first lead at the 9:02 mark of the first half, while SAU climbed back on top by as much as eight points in the final two minutes of the opening period. The Lady Riders led for the first 11 minutes of the second half, before the Savage Storm gained the lead for good at the 8:03 mark, and grew its lead to as much seven points over the next two minutes. SAU cut the deficit to two points with 1:25 remaining, which was immediately followed by an 8-0 run from Southeastern to finalize the scoring. SAU’s Katherine McBride led all scorers with 29 points on a 9-of-14 shooting night, while adding eight points on 11 free-throw attempts. Nikki Nester led the Savage Storm with 18 points.
SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 77, HENDERSON STATE 56
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – After trailing by two points at halftime, Southwestern Oklahoma State (13-5, 8-1 GAC) took advantage of poor shooting from Henderson State (11-8, 4-5 GAC) in the second half to capture a 77-56 win over the Lady Reddies to avenge the team’s only conference loss this season. SWOSU outscored HSU 41-18 in the second half following a 23.3 percent second-half shooting outing from the Lady Reddies. The first half featured a back-and-forth battle of eight tied scores and eight lead changes, but the second half was all SWOSU. The Bulldogs took the lead for the final time at the 13:08 mark and grew their lead to double-digits in the final seven minutes. SWOSU finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field and held a final 52-36 advantage on the boards. HSU’s second half performance dropped the team’s overall shooting percentage for the game to 32.8 percent. Four of SWOSU’s starters reached double-digits in scoring, led by Sumiya Darden with 19 points and 19 rebounds, her seventh double-double of the season. Destiny Smith Crystal Harrison tied for the HSU scoring lead with 12 points each.