The seemingly unstoppable Arkansas Tech University women’s basketball machine rolled on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Suns (17-2 overall, 15-0 Great American Conference) blew past Southern Nazarene University 81-55 at the Sawyer Center in Bethany, Okla., to maintain their four-game lead for first place in the GAC standings with seven regular season games remaining.
Southern Nazarene led 14-11 at the end of the first quarter. Arkansas Tech opened the second period on a 13-2 run, taking the lead for good on an Anissa Pounds layup with 8:06 to go until halftime.
Tech’s Bre Brooks and Kelsey McClure took it from there. They combined to score 16 points over the final 6:28 of the second quarter, including a layup by McClure at the first-half buzzer that sent the Golden Suns to the intermission with a 36-24 lead.
The margin remained 12 points or greater the rest of the afternoon as Arkansas Tech earned its 11th consecutive victory. Each of their last 10 wins has come by 12 points or more.
The Golden Suns finished with a 22-4 edge in points off turnovers on Saturday.
“We got off to a slow start,” said Arkansas Tech head coach Dave Wilbers. “We missed some shots early on that we would normally make. Credit Southern Nazarene…they had a good game plan. We were able to get some transition offense going in the second quarter.”
Fatima Adams made her final eight field goal tries to finish with 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field.
It was Adams’ first made field goal of the day that put her in select company. Her layup at the 5:31 mark of the first quarter gave her 1,000 career points. She is the 27th Arkansas Tech women’s basketball player to reach that milestone.
“It’s a good club to be in,” said Wilbers in regard to Adams’ achievement. “She has a lot of talent. The girls got the ball in her hands in some good spots today. I suspect she’ll score a few more.”
Anissa Pounds notched 14 points, Bre Brooks and Kelsey McClure scored 12 points apiece and Aujana Dawkins contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Golden Suns. It was Dawkins’ third double-double of the season.
Abby Boyd had 15 points and Adrienne Berry added 14 points for the Crimson Storm (4-14, 3-12), which suffered its sixth consecutive loss.
The Golden Suns will host Ouachita Baptist University in Great American Conference action at Tucker Coliseum on Thursday, Feb. 11. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. Radio station KCJC 102.3 FM and www.arkansastechsports.com will have live coverage.
