Box Score (html)
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – SWOSU Women's Basketball took down No. 25-ranked Arkansas Tech 72-69 Thursday evening to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Golden Suns and spoil ATU's 22-game home-court winning streak inside Tucker Coliseum.
The Lady Bulldogs started slow in the game, falling behind 21-7 to Arkansas Tech in the first quarter. SWOSU was held to just 3-17 shooting (18 percent) in the quarter, and allowed the Golden Suns to shoot 40 percent that built their first quarter lead.
The second quarter was dominated by SWOSU, who outscored ATU 29-18 in the second 10-minute session to get back into the game. The Lady Dawgs trailed by as many as 19 early in the quarter after giving up a three-point shot, but from that point on finished the quarter on a 24-8 run that was capped off by a
Hayden Priddy layup with five seconds remaining before the half that cut Tech's lead to three heading into the locker room.
SWOSU won both of the second-half quarters in terms of scoring, outscoring Tech 21-17 in the third and 15-13 in the fourth. The Dawg defense bowed their neck after the break, holding the Golden Suns to 11-45 from the field (24 percent) in the second half, including 3-14 from deep (21 percent). The Dawgs didn't lead in the game until the 56 second mark of the third quarter, when
Savannah Gray knocked down a three to give SWOSU a 57-56 advantage. The three would be the final points of the quarter, and the Lady Bulldogs headed into the fourth quarter winning by one.
After relinquishing the lead to begin the final 10 minutes, SWOSU would gain it immediately back and then never look back, never trailing the Golden Suns the rest of the way.
Hailey Tucker,
Tyra Aska, and Priddy all played the entire final quarter, contributing 12 of the Dawgs 15 total points. Arkansas Tech had a chance to tie the game as time expired, but the last second three wouldn't fall and SWOSU walked off the court a winner.
Tucker and Aska each finished the game one rebound shy of double-doubles, posting 16 and 13 points respectively with nine boards. Aska also finished with a team high five assists. Priddy ended as the team leader with 17 points, filling up her stat sheet with three assists, two blocks, and three steals.
Taylor Hedrick scored nine and
Savannah Gray added eight of her own on 2-5 from the three-point line. On the night, SWOSU shot 36 percent throughout the game, 24 percent from three-point land, and 69 percent from the free-throw line. The Dawgs were outrebounded 57-48, but turned the ball over three less times. (16-13).
The win improves the Lady Dawgs to 2-1 on the season, and a perfect 1-0 slate in the early going of the GAC schedule. Looking ahead, SWOSU will travel to Searcy, Arkansas on Saturday to play Harding in another GAC matchup with tipoff at 4 pm.
