Box Score (html)
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – For the second consecutive season, SWOSU Women's Basketball went on the road to face off against a ranked Arkansas Tech squad and came away victorious. The Lady Bulldogs trailed by as many as 12 in the contest, but erased their deficit and went on the down the No. 19 Golden Suns 84-76 on Thursday night.
SWOSU battled all first half, but trailed by seven after the first quarter and four heading into halftime. The Lady Bulldogs played from behind for a majority of the first half, only leading or being tied with Tech for just over four minutes of game time while trailing the other 15 minutes and change.
In the second quarter following a Lady Dawgs rally that tied the score up at 22-22, the Golden Suns answered with a 12-0 run themselves that pushed their lead to 34-22 with 3:46 remaining in the quarter.
Alexa Harvey finally ended the run with a three point shot, which began SWOSU's slow chip into the deficit. The Dawgs closed out the half scoring nine of the final 13 points, trailing just 38-34 despite shooting 27.5% from the floor on a mere 11-for-40 shooting overall.
Out of the locker room, it was the Lady Dawgs who set the pace of the second half after outscoring Tech 27-20 to take a lead of their own into the fourth and final quarter. SWOSU got hot, knocking down six three-point shots spread between
Hayden Priddy,
Hailey Tucker, and
Alexa Harvey. Trailing by six midway through the quarter, back-to-back treys from Tucker followed by another Priddy longball gave SWOSU its first lead of the second half with a quick 9-0 run at 55-52.
Harvey, who had played just 13 minutes total coming into the game, gave SWOSU nine solid minutes off of the bench. The true freshman knocked down all three shots she took on Thursday – finishing 3-for-3 from three-point land and with nine points. Six of the points came in the third quarter during SWOSU's hot shooting spurt, allowing the Dawgs to extend the lead they held both instances.
The fourth quarter featured two tied up scores with the latest coming at 67-67 with 4:43 left in the game, however Tech never managed to regain the lead they held for much of the first half. After getting to the free throw line just 11 times through three quarters, SWOSU took 16 foul shots in the fourth quarter and was able to connect on 11 of them – contributing 11 of the Bulldogs 23 total points scored.
The Golden Suns got within one possession with 2:53 remaining in the contest, but a 1-of-2 showing from the foul line by
Taylor Hedrick followed by a defensive stop and a Tucker three point shot pushed the margin back to six with 1:59 left to go. From there, ATU trailed by a minimum of two possessions the rest of the way and eventually was forced to foul to extend the game.
The Lady Bulldogs shot a season high three point shots in the game, firing 37 times from deep and connected on 15 of those for a 40.5% rate. SWOSU ended 35% from the floor overall as a team, compared to the Golden Suns who shot 38%. Four of the five starters finished in double figures, led by Tucker and Priddy each with 17 followed by
Tyra Aska with 15 and
Bethany Franks with 10.
Tucker, Priddy, and Franks all three collected double-doubles on the night. Tucker and Franks grabbing 10 rebounds apiece while Priddy dished out 11 assists with greater than a 3:1 turnover-to-assist ratio. Tucker also added three blocks and steals to lead the team defensively.
SWOSU (7-0, 3-0 GAC) now turns its focus to Harding who they will matchup against on Saturday afternoon in Searcy, Arkansas. The Lady Bisons came into the season ranked No. 3 in the preseason national poll, but have started slow to begin the new year and dropped out of the rankings. However, HU is heating up and will enter Saturday riding back-to-back blowouts of its opponents. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 pm.
