No. 5 Golden Suns Earn 20th Win in Style

Arkansas Tech secured the 29th 20-win season in the history of its women’s basketball program by overwhelming the Christian Brothers Lady Buccaneers 103-32 at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Monday night.

The nationally fifth-ranked Golden Suns (20-2 overall, 9-1 Gulf South Conference) used a 23-0 run to claim a 37-7 lead with 6:40 left before halftime.

Tech shot 63 percent from the field in the first half and led 54-17 at halftime. The Suns made sure of the outcome by scoring the first nine points of the second half.

Arkansas Tech’s starters checked out with 15 minutes remaining and never returned.

Jenny Vining scored 20 points in just 19 minutes of playing time. The All-America guard from Marshall was 8-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. She also made six assists.

Tech’s Natalia Santos notched 15 points and 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season and the 17th of her career. Katie Horsman added 13 points and Jessica Weatherford netted 12 points for the Golden Suns.

Samanta Ludwig made it five Tech players in double figures in scoring with the most productive night of her collegiate career. Ludwig established new career highs in scoring (12 points) and rebounds (11). She also had three steals.

Two freshmen also had big nights for the Suns. Casse Vaughn grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds and Shanae Govan made a career-high nine assists against no turnovers.

Normanique Johnson led CBU (8-14, 1-9) with nine points.

The Golden Suns tied their school record for rebounds in a game (60). They made 36 assists, one shy of matching the school record for a single game in that category.

Christian Brothers suffered the largest margin of defeat in the history of its women’s basketball program. It was the first time the Lady Bucs had allowed 100 or more points in a game since Jan. 11, 1999.

The Golden Suns will visit Southern Arkansas for a 5:30 p.m. contest at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center in Magnolia on Thursday, Feb. 17.

Radio station KWKK 100.9 FM will broadcast the game in the Arkansas River Valley. The broadcast will be streamed over the Internet at www.athletics.atu.edu.

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