RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Tech, Harding, Southern Arkansas and Southwestern Oklahoma State all added to the win column duringThursday night’s Great American Conference women’s basketball contests.
ARKANSAS TECH 76, OUACHITA BAPTIST 66
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Tech (12-3, 4-3 GAC) junior guard Roselis Silva recorded a triple-double to lead the Golden Suns to a 76-66 victory at home over Ouachita Baptist (11-6, 4-3 GAC) on Thursday night. Silva finished the game with 19 points, 13 rebounds and 11 steals, the game-high in all three categories. The Golden Suns were outscored in the second half by the Lady Tigers, but ATU’s 47 percent shooting in the first half allowed the team to hold a 12-point lead at halftime. The Golden Suns never trailed from the 9:43 mark of the first half throughout the remainder of the contest, leading by as much 15 points with 17:56 remaining in the second half. Including Silva, ATU placed five scorers in double-figures. Natalia Santos was next behind Silvawith 14 points. OBU placed two scorers in double-figures, led by Beulah Osueke’s 18 points. A’Laeshia Adams added 14.
HARDING 67, ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 44
SEARCY, Ark. – The Lady Bisons of Harding (12-5, 5-2 GAC) shot 51 percent from the field, while holding their opponent to just 30 percent in a 67-44 win over Arkansas-Monticello (5-12, 1-6 GAC) at home on Thursday night. HU’s Kristen Celsor continued her high-scoring efforts with her third double-digit performance in the past three games and second 20-point performance during that span with 21 points in the win over the Cotton Blossoms. She made 8-of-13 shots from the field, while also grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. UAM used a 7-2 scoring over the final three minutes of the second half to cut HU’s double-digit lead to just six points at halftime. The Cotton Blossoms kept HU to single-digits until the final 10 minutes of the second half, until the Lady Bisons used a 24-0 scoring run to jump out to a 29-point lead with 3:47 remaining in regulation. Joining Celsor in the double-digit point column was HU’s Arielle Saunders with 15 and UAM’s Catherine Puckett with 10.
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 74, HENDERSON STATE 68
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Henderson State (11-6, 4-3 GAC) was bounced out of second place in the GAC standings with a 74-68 loss to Southern Arkansas (2-15, 2-5 GAC) at home Thursday night. The Lady Muleriders held the dominant edge on the glass with 50 rebounds to HSU’s 36, which also led to SAU’s 23-4 lead in second chance points. The back-and-forth contest featured 11 lead changes and 10 tied scores. Neither team had a lead larger than eight points throughout the contest. That lead was held by SAU with just under two minutes remaining inregulation. Both team finished the night with similar statistical numbers. SAU held the slight advantage in field goal shooting at 41.3 percent (26-of-63) to HSU’s 38.6 percent (22-of-57). SAU’s Kmaria Hobbs captured her second best scoring performance of the season with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-17 field goal shooting and 7-of-10 free throw shooting. SAU’s Shenelda Livingston added a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Cheree Freeman led the Lady Reddies with 14 points.
SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 90, SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 85
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Southwestern Oklahoma State (12-5, 7-1 GAC) pushed its streak to seven consecutive victories by hanging on to defeat Southeastern Oklahoma State (7-10, 3-4 GAC) on Thursday night at home by a final score of 90-85. The contest featured a mirrored performance from both teams. SWOSU outscored Southeastern 51-33 in the first half, while Southeastern outscored SWOSU 52-39 in the second half. The Bulldogs of SWOSU never trailed in the contest and never allowed the Savage Storm to tie the contest. SWOSU led by as much 21 points on two different occasions in the first half, while allowingSoutheastern to cut its deficit to single-digits with just over three minutes in regulation. The Savage Storm never got any closer than five points in the final three minutes. Two-time reigning GAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week Darcie Dick collected a game-high 29 points for the Bulldogs, while also tallying 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. SWOSU had three other scorers reach double-digits, including Sumiya Darden, who scored 12 points and added a game-high 14 rebounds. Ashley Hobbs led Southeastern with 23 points, while Jessica Hesse and Nikki Nester each had 14.