Sydnie Jones capped her career-best scoring performance with the game-winning layup as Harding University denied Arkansas Tech University its second consecutive GAC Women's Basketball Championship, defeating the Golden Suns 75-73 on Sunday in Bruin Fieldhouse in Bartlesville, Okla.
The same two teams will meet in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Central Region on Friday at Rhodes-Reaves Field House in Searcy. The game time has been announced.
The Lady Bisons are a No. 2 seed while the Golden Suns are a No. 7 seed. Emporia State is the No. 1 seed in the region.
The Lady Bisons (27-3) led by as many as eight points in the second half but found themselves down 73-69 with less than two minutes to go. A'ndrea Haney pulled Harding to within two on a driving layup and Caroline Hogue converted two free throws to tie the game. Following a defensive stop Riley Rose raced into the frontcourt where she passed ahead to Peyton Padgett for a three-point attempt. Jones corralled the miss, pivoted and banked home the game winner.
Tech (22-7) advanced the ball to half court after a timeout. Kelsey McClure received the inbounds pass and drove towards the hoop, but could not convert a running layup as time expired. Harding joins Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma State as two-time GAC Women's Tournament Champions.
Jones tallied 30 points, the second-best scoring output in a GAC Women's title game, after having scored only 10 in the opening two tournament games. She made 11 of 14 from the floor and added nine rebounds. She earned MVP honors.
Haney and Hogue joined Jones on the eight-member All-Tournament Team. Haney averaged 10.7 points and 5.3 assists for the week. Hogue added 12.3 points and 8.7 rebounds. McClure, Anissa Pounds and Cheyenne North represented Arkansas Tech. McClure, who scored 26 points on Sunday, averaged 20.7 points and shot 62.5 percent from the field in the three games. Pounds added 14.7 points and dished out 18 assists against only three turnovers. North added 12.7 points and 8.7 assists. GAC Player of the Year Hailey Tucker, from Southwestern Oklahoma State, and East Central's Jalyn Jackson completed the squad.
GAC MEN
EAST CENTRAL (OKLA.) 82, ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 67
East Central dominated the second half against the University of Arkansas at Monticello to score its first Great American Conference Men's Basketball Championship on Sunday at Bruin Fieldhouse in Bartlesville, Okla.
UAM will be the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament Central Region, facing Augustana (S.D.) at Northwest Missouri State. Arkansas Tech earned the No. 7 seed and will face Southwest Minnesota State. East Central, a No. 3 seed, will face No. 6 seed Minnesota State-Moorhead.
In the first-ever men's final to feature the GAC's top two seeds, ECU (24-7) found itself down 37-31 at halftime. The Tigers responded by shooting 69.2 percent in the closing 20 minutes and outscored UAM (23-6) 51-30. Tournament MVP Braxton Reeves heated up in similar fashion. After making just 3 of 12 shots in the first half, he went 4 for 6, including 3 of 5 from the three-point arc to fuel the comeback.
ECU blitzed UAM with a 25-2 burst that spanned nearly seven minutes to flip a 42-35 deficit into a 60-44 advantage. In the three GAC Championship games, ECU shot a combined 59.5 percent from the floor, as compared to 48.8 percent in the three first halves. The Tigers closed by making 17 of their final 21 shots.
Four Tigers finished in double figures. In addition to Reeves, Aly Hudgins scored 16 points; Ishmael Donzo added 14 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Brett Cannon matched Donzo with 14 points.
Cannon and KD Moore joined Reeves on the All-Tournament team. Cannon averaged 16.0 points per game and went 10-for-18 from the 3-point arc. Moore shot 57.1 percent from the field while averaging 11.3 points and 9.0 rebounds.
Cobe Goosby scored a game-high 23 points for the Weevils. He earned All-Tournament honors, along with Karim Mawuenyega and Vicktor Arnick. Ouachita's Lakee Westbrook and Arkansas Tech's Alex Brown completed the eight-man team.
Sports on 03/06/2017