Tweet #theGAC  BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – For the second-straight year, the Great American Conference Women’s Basketball Championship final between Arkansas Tech and Harding came down to a final possession. This season, the result went in favor of the Golden Suns as they claimed the title with a 63-62 win against Lady Bisons on Sunday from Bruin Fieldhouse.
 
On the final possession of the game, Harding (18-15) gave the ball to Carissa Caples who drove into the front court and pulled up from 17 feet for a potential game-winner. The shot missed long and Arkansas Tech (26-3) had its third GAC Championship title.
 
For the third straight GAC Championship game, Cheyenne North led the way for the Golden Suns. She scored a team-high 16 points and filled out the box score with nine blocks, eight rebounds and six assists. For her efforts, she won Tournament MVP honors. In the three games she averaged 21.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.0 blocks and 4.7 assists.
 
Kylie Ladd and Lyrik Williams joined North on the All-Tournament Team. Ladd averaged 10.0 points for the week and Williams scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the final. She averaged 11.0 points and 8.7 rebounds at the tournament.
 
Sydney Layrock and Kellie Lampo represented Harding on the All-Tournament Team. Layrock turned in her best game of the tournament and she tallied 21 points and went 3-for-5 from the 3-point arc. Lampo averaged 20.0 points and 13.5 rebounds in Harding’s two wins.
 
Henderson State’s Haleigh Henson and Pink Jones plus Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Hailey Tucker rounded out the All-Tournament squad.
 
The Golden Suns earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Central Region Championships, their 15^th trip to the NCAA Tournament.  They will learn their seed, opponent and destination during Sunday night’s selection show, set to stream on NCAA.com at 9:00 PM CST.