PHOTO | Tara Espinoza
The Arkansas Tech women’s basketball team fell at home on Saturday afternoon to Southeastern 68-72 in Tucker Coliseum. Following the game, the Golden Suns are 12-7 overall with a 10-5 record in Great American Conference play.
This game would snap a three-game win streak for the Golden Suns after picking up road wins against Southwestern and Northwestern Oklahoma on the road as well as a win against East Central at home.
The Savage Storm would jump out to an early lead opening the afternoon on an 8-4 run. The Golden Suns would get themselves back in the game, turning defense to offense with a back-to-back block by Dana Thompson and steal by Alex Hill that would lead to a pass up the court to Jalei Oglesby to finish at the rim to tie the game at 8-8. Kaley Shipman would put the Golden Suns on top with a three-point bucket with 4:06 left in the first to give the Golden Suns a 13-10 lead over Southeastern, which would be enough to give them the lead heading into the second quarter of action.
In the second quarter, Tech would maintain the lead for the entire duration of the period, despite the efforts by the Savage Storm to cut into that lead. That quarter would be a strong shooting quarter for the Golden Suns from field goal range as they knocked down 6-of-11 (54.5%) of their shots from the floor.
The Golden Suns would head into the halftime locker room with a lead as Oglesby knocked down a two-pointer to give her team the 30-26 advantage at the break.
The third quarter started with a steal by Thompson that led to a finish in the paint for Shipman to extend the Golden Sun lead early in the third quarter of play.
Once again, in the third quarter, Arkansas Tech would not give up their lead and found themselves ahead by as many as 10 points in the quarter. Arkansas Tech would find their best offensive quarter in the third as they shot 60.0% (9-of-15) from the field as a team and would head into the final quarter of play ahead of the Savage Storm 50-42.
Southeastern would start the final quarter of action clawing their way back into the game to cut the Tech lead down to four at 52-48 with 7:38 left to play in the game. ClaraGrace Prater would knock down a big shot from beyond-the-arc to try and give Tech some breathing room, but the Savage Storm would answer right back with a triple of their own to keep the lead at four.
Following a made jump shot by Hayleigh Wyrick, Southeastern would get two back-to-back layups to fall to tie the game at 57-57 with just over five minutes left to play.
The Savage Storm continued to get baskets with some trips to the free throw line as well as a three-pointer, but Tech would match them, leading to another tie at 64-64 with 2:45 left in the game.
Following a jumper made by Oglesby to tie the game at 70-70 with under a minute to go, the Golden Suns would stop Southeastern on defense to get back on offense and try to grab the go-ahead bucket. Southeastern would come away with a steal that led to a layup on the other end of the court with 17 seconds left that would ultimately be the deciding factor in the game as they edged out Tech 72-68 in the final seconds of play.
Leading the way for the Golden Suns was Oglesby, with 28 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the floor. Oglesby also added seven rebounds, two assists and a block. Thompson was rounding out the leaders for the Golden Suns, who put up a 13-point and 10-rebound double-double for Tech.
The Golden Suns will hit the road for their next outing as they travel to Shawnee, Okla., to take on Oklahoma Baptist. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. in Shawnee tonight.
