Tweet #theGAC  SHAWNEE, Okla. – In the third quarter of Harding’s 67-50 quarterfinal victory against Northwestern Oklahoma State at the 2022 Great American Conference Women’s Basketball Championships from FireLake Arena, the Lady Bisons became the first team to hold their opponent scoreless for an entire quarter of a GAC Championship game.
 
Harding (19-9) extended its 38-35 halftime lead to a 53-35 advantage after Northwestern Oklahoma State (15-14) missed all 16 field-goal attempts in the quarter. For the game, the Lady Bisons allowed the Rangers to shoot just 28.2 percent from the floor.
 
Offensively, Patricija Peric and Jacie Evans led Harding. Peric, who entered the game averaging just 4.6 points per game, scored a career-high 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Additionally, she went 4-for-7 from the 3-point arc. She had gone just 3-for-19 on her 3-point tries in her last 11 games. Evans added 18 points on 9-for-15 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
 
Northwestern Oklahoma State’s Bailey Brown closed her standout career with the Rangers by tallying 15 points and 13 rebounds. The First-Team All-GAC selection ended as the conference’s second-leading scorer with 1,911 points and as one of only four players in GAC history to reach both 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
 
Harding takes on seventh-seeded Arkansas Tech in Saturday’s second women’s semifinal, scheduled for 8:00 PM. The Lady Bisons and Golden Suns each won on their home floor during the regular season. In the 10 prior GAC Championships, the Lady Bisons and Golden Suns have squared off five times. Harding owns a 3-2 advantage in those meetings.