Arkansas Tech made six consecutive lay-ups to begin the second half and ran away with an 87-64 win over the West Florida Argonauts in the first round of the 2010 Gulf South Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Miss., on Thursday afternoon.
The nationally sixth-ranked Golden Suns (26-2) shot 59 percent from the field in the second half as they improved to 33-4 all-time against current members of the GSC East Division.
West Florida (14-14) led for the majority of the first half, but Tech outscored the Argos 7-2 over the final 2:13 to take a 34-31 lead at halftime.
That momentum carried over to the second half. The Suns used a 12-2 run to take a 46-36 edge with 16:32 to go.
West Florida got back to within 51-43 with 13:30 left, but that proved to be the Argonauts’ last stand.
Arkansas Tech’s Jenny Vining capped a 19-6 run by making a 3-pointer with 8:16 remaining. Her back-breaking trey gave the Suns a 70-49 lead, and it was never in doubt from there.
Natalia Santos (photographed) scored a career-high 28 points for Tech. She was 11-of-15 from the field and she grabbed eight rebounds.
Jessica Weatherford added 18 points and seven assists. The Suns finished with a 52-26 edge in points in the paint.
Vining had 11 points and Laura Beth Anderson had six assists for Tech.
Amy Drake scored 20 points in her final collegiate game to lead West Florida.
The Golden Suns will face Harding in the GSC Tournament semifinals at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Lady Bisons defeated North Alabama 73-66 on Friday behind a career-high 31 points from Russellville native Stacey Owens.
Russellville radio station KWKK 100.9 FM and www.athletics.atu.edu will have live play-by-play coverage of Tech’s semifinal game on Saturday.
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