SHAWNEE, Okla. – SWOSU Women's Basketball is the Great American Conference Champions as they defeated Arkansas Tech 89-68 Sunday afternoon in Shawnee.
This is SWOSU's fourth GAC Tournament Championship and first since the 2019 season when SWOSU ended the season as the national runners up.
SWOSU outscored Arkansas Tech 35-14 in the third quarter after only being ahead by one point at halftime.
"In the second half, we knew we had to change the pace," coach Kelsi Musick said in her post-game press conference. "Our defense was a bit laxed in the first half. We knew we had to speed the game up and get them running. We did that and it swung the momentum. We did what we did best, which was play fast and score."
SWOSU struggled to score early on but closed the first quarter on a 10-6 run and led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter. Macy Gore led the way with six early points.
Arkansas Tech managed to tie the game up at 17-17 early in the second quarter. SWOSU found its groove in the last two minutes of the quarter and closed the half on a 6-2 run. The Lady Bulldogs had a narrow one-point lead at halftime, 25-24.
In the third quarter, SWOSU picked up the pace and began to click. They outscored Tech 35-14 to break the game open and distance themselves from the Golden Suns.
Karly Gore was hot in the third quarter, as she scored 11 of her 17 points in the third quarter while Makyra Tramble scored 10 of her 22.
The Lady Bulldogs shot 83 percent in the second half from the three-point line, going 10-of-12. They also shot 67 percent from the field, going 24-of-36.
SWOSU had five players who scored in double digits. Ramey had a double-double, as she scored 11 points and recorded 10 rebounds.
"Shoutout to my teammates and my coaches for preparing me for this moment," Ramey said. "I was excited once I achieved this and I am happy I was able to play well."
Macy Gore and Morgan Smith finished with 11 points each in the game. SWOSU also had help from their reserves, thanks to 20 points combined from the bench.
Ramey and Macy Gore made the GAC all-tournament team and Tramble was the all-tournament MVP. Tramble wins the championship in her hometown of Shawnee.
"Being the MVP is great, but I give all the credit to my teammates and coaches," Tramble said. "They push me so hard in practice and I know I have to perform well for all that hard work to be worth it."
SWOSU improves to 29-4 and qualifies for the NCAA National tournament. With this conference championship, SWOSU has made this tournament five seasons in a row. Riding a 14-game winning streak, SWOSU earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Central Region Tournament and will take on
"We are extremely excited and playing great basketball right now," Musick said. "I felt like we got cut a bit short last season and did not play up to our full potential. It gave us experience and a burning desire to make a run. We have big goals to set and want to represent the GAC. We will have to turn it up another notch this week in practice to be ready."
