Arkansas Tech did the only thing you can do after a long winning streak comes to an end — start a new one.
The nationally 13th-ranked Golden Suns defeated the Ouachita Baptist Lady Tigers 76-66 in Great American Conference action at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Thursday night.
The bounce-back win came just 72 hours after Arkansas Tech saw its 42-game home winning streak come to an end with a 77-69 loss to Harding on Monday.
“It was a battle,” said Golden Suns head coach Dave Wilbers after the Suns’ win over OBU. “OBU is really good and they have a lot of seniors. It was a physical game, but we executed our offense and played good zone defense.”
Rosie Silva made Arkansas Tech history by recording the first triple-double in Golden Suns’ history. She scored 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and made 11 steals. She also dished out eight assists, leaving her just two assists short of a quadruple double.
Arkansas Tech took the lead for good on a Silva 3-pointer with 9:36 left in the first half. Her trey made it 16-13 and the Golden Suns went on to take a 41-29 lead at halftime. Tech closed the half on a 12-4 spurt.
The Suns led by as many as 15 points early in the second half, but back came Ouachita Baptist. Domino Miller’s 3-pointer with 4:55 to go cut Tech’s advantage to 65-58.
The Golden Suns rebuilt an 11-point lead after consecutive baskets from Jessica Weatherford and Lily Abreu. Beulah Osueke answered with a basket to trim the Lady Tigers’ deficit to 69-60 with 2:28 left, and the situation further tightened for the Golden Suns 15 seconds later when leading scorer Natalia Santos fouled out.
Ouachita took that momentum and ran with it. Three-pointers from A’Laeshia Adams and Osueke helped them pull within 71-66 with 1:09 left.
That was as close as it would get. The Lady Tigers never scored again, and Arkansas Tech made 5-of-6 at the free throw line over the final 42.5 seconds.
Santos scored 14 points before fouling out. Abreu had 12 points, while Katie Horsman and Weatherford notched 11 points apiece for the Suns.
Osueke led OBU with 18 points. Adams netted 14 points.
The Golden Suns will visit Southern Arkansas for a 5:30 p.m. GAC game at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center in Magnolia on Saturday, Jan. 28. Radio station KWKK 100.9 FM will have the play-by-play description.
Click here to access an Internet stream of the broadcast.
Click here to learn more about Arkansas Tech women’s basketball.
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