PHOTO GALLERY || BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Sydnie Jones capped her career-best scoring performance with the game-winning layup as Harding denied Arkansas Tech its second-straight GAC Women’s Basketball Championship crown, defeating the Golden Suns 75-73 on Sunday from Bruin Fieldhouse.
The Lady Bisons (27-3) led by as many as eight points in the second half but found themselves down 73-69 with less than two minutes to go. A’ndrea Haney pulled Harding to within two on a driving layup and Caroline Hogue converted two free throws to tie the game. Following a defensive stop Riley Rose raced into the frontcourt where she passed ahead to Peyton Padgett for a 3-point attempt. Jones corralled the miss, pivoted and banked home the game winner.
Tech (22-7) advanced the ball to half court after a timeout. Kelsey McClure received the inbounds ball and drove towards the hoop, but could not convert a running layup as time expired. Harding joins Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma State as two-time GAC Women’s Tournament Champions.
Jones tallied 30 points, the second-best scoring output in a GAC Women’s title game, after having scored only 10 in the opening two tournament games. She made 11-of-14 from the floor and added nine rebounds. She earned MVP honors.
Haney and Hogue joined Jones on the eight-member All-Tournament Team. Haney averaged 10.7 points and 5.3 assists for the week. Hogue added 12.3 points and 8.7 rebounds. McClure, Anissa Pounds and Cheyenne North represented Arkansas Tech. McClure, who scored 26 points on Sunday, averaged 20.7 points and shot 62.5 percent from the field in the three games. Pounds added 14.7 points and dished out 18 assists against only three turnovers. North added 12.7 points and 8.7 assists. GAC Player of the Year Hailey Tucker, from Southwestern Oklahoma State, and East Central’s Jalyn Jackson completed the squad.
The Lady Bisons secured their third trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last four years. Arkansas Tech entered the week ranked seventh in the region awaits an at-large bid. The NCAA will announce the tournament field at 9:00 PM with its selection show on NCAA.com.