Harding University ended Arkansas Tech University’s 10-game winning streak by defeating the Golden Suns 72-58 in Great American Conference women’s basketball action at Rhodes-Reaves Field House in Searcy on Monday night.
The Lady Bisons (12-2 overall, 9-0 GAC) finished with a 34-22 edge in points in the paint as they opened a two-game lead for first place in the league standings.
“If you looked at their shot chart you would see them making a lot of shots in the paint, and if you looked at ours you would see us missing a lot of shots in the paint,” said Arkansas Tech head coach Dave Wilbers. “Credit them defensively. We were too antsy offensively. We were settling for off-balance shots after one or two passes.”
The first half saw four ties and four lead changes. An 8-0 run late in the second quarter by Harding allowed the Lady Bisons to claim a 32-26 edge at the intermission.
Harding stretched its lead to 53-40 after three quarters. Back-to-back baskets by Cheyenne North to begin the fourth quarter gave the Golden Suns (11-2, 7-2) a spark, but Harding called timeout and received consecutive buckets from A’ndrea Haney and Caroline Hogue to push the margin back into double digits for good.
Haney finished with 21 points and five assists. Falan Maller notched 12 points for the Lady Bisons, while Hogue and Sydney Layrock contributed 11 points apiece. Hogue led all players with 10 rebounds.
Kelsey McClure paced Tech in scoring with 14 points. North had 13 points and eight rebounds. Danielle Frachiseur chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds.
The Golden Suns will host Henderson State University for a 5:30 p.m. GAC contest at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Thursday, Jan. 19.
