RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Despite grabbing more than 50 rebounds for the fifth time in its last six games, Harding could not overcome 24% shooting from the field and fell 67-56 to Arkansas Tech Monday in a matchup of the top two teams in the Great American Conference Eastern Division.

The loss snapped a five-game Harding winning streak and dropped the Lady Bisons to 5-3 overall and in the GAC. Arkansas Tech remained undefeated at 8-0 overall and 7-0 in conference and ran its home winning streak to eight games dating to last season.

“I thought we batted pretty well for most of the night,” Harding head coach Tim Kirby said. “We hung around but when we needed to make a big play, we just came up empty.”

Harding pulled within six points twice in the fourth quarter, but Tech scored each time and pulled away.

The Lady Bisons had 55 total rebounds, including 25 offensive rebounds. Harding outscored Tech 18-0 on second-chance points, but Tech shot 45% from the field to hold off the Lady Bisons.

Carissa Caples, playing her 100th game at Harding, scored 10 points. Katelyn Burtch also added a career-high 10 points. Sage Hawley had eight points and led the team with 14 rebounds and six assists.

Tech’s Nikki Metcalfe was key for Arkansas Tech on both ends. She led the team with 16 points and tied a Tech record with 11 blocked shots.

Neither team shot well in the third quarter. Tech outscored Harding 11-10. The Lady Bisons were 3 of 19 (15.8%) from the field but made 4 of 6 free throws.

Tech led by 10 early in the second quarter, but Harding got key 3-pointers from Lexie Davis, Kylee Coulter and Kennedy Cooper in the quarter to stay close. Hawley made a turnaround jumper with 37 seconds left to cut Tech’s halftime lead to 35-29. Harding shot 40% in the quarter but only 26.5% in the half. Tech shot 50% from the field (14 of 28), the 3-point line (4 of 8) and the free-throw line (3 of 6).

Arkansas Tech scored the first 10 points before Hannah Collins drained a 3-pointer from the right baseline. Harding missed its first six shots and made only one of its first 10. The Lady Bisons shot 3 of 19 in the quarter, but two of them were 3-pointers. Harding trailed 16-5 but scored the last six points of the quarter.

The Lady Bisons return to the Rhodes-Reaves Field House Thursday to take on Southern Arkansas.

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RUSSELLVILLE – The No. 19/18 ranked Arkansas Tech women’s basketball team dominated both sides of the court from the opening tip to the final horn as they routed visiting Henderson State by a score of 98-62 on Thursday night inside Tucker Coliseum.

The win improves the Golden Suns to an unblemished 7-0 record overall and a 6-0 mark in the Great American Conference.

The dominance in the game started early for the Golden Suns as they scored the game’s first points on their very first possession to stake claim to their one and only lead. From there on, the Golden Suns took control of the game thanks to a remarkable shooting effort.

In the first quarter alone, the Golden Suns attempted 16 field goals and made 12 of them as they were an unconscious 75% overall. Naturally, the Golden Suns would not continue to shoot at such a high clip as the game wore on, but they still managed to shoot at least 50% from the field in each of the final three quarters of play. All told, the Golden Suns shot 57% overall for the game, going 38-of-67.

The 57% shooting for the Golden Suns matched a season-high that they first achieved in their 115-94 win over Southern Arkansas back on January 14.

As they have done all season long, the Golden Suns got offensive production from multiple sources. Against the Reddies, all 13 players that saw action scored at least two points. Five of those players scored in double figures with Jalei Oglesby scoring a game-high 18 points off the bench. Nikki Metcalfe was next in scoring with 14 points. She also added 10 rebounds to notch her second double-double of the season.

Ashlei Lopez was next in scoring with 13 points. Jayana Sanders and Trelyn Tyler rounded out double-figure scoring with 12 points each.

The Golden Suns will now prepare for a Monday night clash with rival Harding. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. inside Tucker Coliseum.

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RUSSELLVILLE – Despite a schedule change to starts the 2020-21 season, the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns started off the new year with an 80-40 victory over Champion Christian College on Saturday afternoon.

In the win, nine Golden Suns scored, led by three in double-digits, with newcomer Ashlei Lopez led the way with 21 points off the bench. Kaley Shipman, All-GAC honorable mention last season, and freshman Nikki Metcalfe joined Lopez with 14 and 12 respectively. Metcalfe posted a double-double in her collegiate debut, grabbing 12 rebounds. Bianca Blades added nine. The Golden Suns set a new record with 65 total rebounds, replacing their previous record of 64.

Senior Jayana Sanders, All-GAC second-team member from last season, recorded her 1000^th career point in the victory. She is the 29^thGolden Sun to surpass the mark. Sanders had team-high four assists against the Tigers.

The Golden Suns never trailed in the game, shooting 44 percent from the field. As a team, Arkansas Tech dished out 18 assists. Senior Hannah Villines blocked three of the Golden Suns five in the game.

The defensive play of the Golden Suns held the Tigers to shooting just above 20 percent from the field. Arkansas Tech outscored Champion Christian 24-0 in the third quarter and did not let the Tigers score for over 11 minutes of play.

The win gives head coach Dave Wilbers his 299th career victory leading into the Golden Suns conference road-opener against the University of Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday, Jan. 7, at 5:30 p.m.

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