BOX SCORE | BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Regular-season champion Arkansas Tech survived a historic individual performance from Henderson State’s Jasmine Settles and earned a third-straight trip to the Great American Conference Women’s Basketball Championship semifinals following a 96-84 win on Thursday afternoon from Bruin Fieldhouse.
Midway through the second half, The Golden Suns (22-5), led by a narrow 60-59 margin before going on a 15-3 run spanning almost five minutes to essentially salt the game away. Henderson State (10-17) never drew closer than 11 the rest of the contest.
Fatima Adams, named Wednesday as the GAC’s Newcomer of the Year, paced the Golden Suns as she scored a career-high 35 points. She added seven rebounds in 37 minutes of play. Jacinda Myers-Sanders hit 8-of-9 nine shots, scored 18 points and added 11 rebounds. As a team, the Golden Suns outrebounded the Reddies 46-31 and dominated inside the paint, outscoring HSU by a 62-32 margin.
Settles established both school and GAC single-game scoring records as she poured in 44 points. She made 14-of-22 shots including a GAC record-tying nine 3-point field goals. The Reddies set a GAC Championship record with 13 3-point field goals. Settles broke the GAC scoring record held previously by Southern Nazarene’s Aminata Fall. Fall tallied 43 against the Reddies this past February 12.
The Golden Suns will vie for their second GAC Tournament finals appearance when they take on third-seeded Southeastern Oklahoma State in Saturday’s opening semifinal, set for Noon on GACSportsNetwork.com. The Golden Suns split with the Savage Storm during the regular season as each team won of their respective home floor.