BOX SCORE || BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – After two unsuccessful trips to the title game of the Great American Conference Women’s Basketball Championships, Harding tasted victory as the Lady Bisons rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Arkansas Tech, 68-50, on Sunday from the Bruin Fieldhouse.
In a matchup between the GAC’s co-regular-season champions and two of the Central Region’s top six teams, Arkansas Tech (23-6) jumped out to an early 13-4 lead as Harding (23-6) struggled in the early going, making only two of its first 11 shots and committing four turnovers in the opening 7:30 of play.
The Lady Bisons rallied and pulled to within three, 27-24, at the break. They came out and scored 13 of the first 15 points of the second half to take a 37-29 lead. The Lady Bisons’ lead dwindled to as small as three in the second half, but they closed out the championship in style, a 20-5 run in the game’s final five minutes.
The Lady Bisons’ trademark tough defense came though in the final 20 minutes as the Golden Suns shot only 20.6 percent in the second half and just 25.7 percent for the game. In the tournament, Harding held Southern Arkansas, Arkansas-Monticello and Tech to a combined 48.0 points per game and the three combined to shoot just 27.2 percent from the field and only 21.5 percent from the 3-point arc.
Sydney Layrock scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds to earn Tournament MVP honors. In the three wins, she averaged 12.0 points and 9.0 rebounds on 50.0 percent shooting. Teammates A’ndrea Haney and GAC Player of the Year Arielle Saunders joined Layrock on the All-Tournament squad. Haney scored 17 points and dished out eight assists while not committing a single turnover. Saunders scored a game-high 20 points, pulled down 15 rebounds, blocked four shots and added four assists.
Fatima Adams, who with 17 points set a tournament scoring record with 74 points, earned a place on All-Tournament team as did Anissa Pounds and Katrina Hayden. Hayden averaged 5.3 assists and Pounds averaged 11.7 points. Adams also established a GAC single-season record for points in a season, 602, besting the mark of 598 points scored by Southern Nazarene’s Oumoul Thiam in 2012-13. Southeastern Oklahoma State’s Emily Williams and Henderson State’s Jasmine Settles rounded out the All-Tournament Team,
Harding captured the automatic bid into next week’s NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championships. Arkansas Tech entered week ranked sixth in the Central Region and should be in line for an at-large bid. The NCAA.com Selection Show airs at 9 PM CDT. The GAC has placed multiple teams into the field of 64 in each of the past two seasons.