Arkansas Tech University has come within one shot of having a chance to defeat Harding University the last two times the Golden Suns and the Lady Bisons have met.
Tech and Harding will square off for the fourth and final time this season on Friday, March 10, in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament Central Regional.
Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. at Rhodes-Reaves Field House in Searcy. Radio station KCJC 102.3 FM and www.arkansastechsports.com will have live coverage.
The Golden Suns (22-7) missed shots at the buzzer to force overtime in a 64-62 home loss to the Lady Bisons on Feb. 13 and a 75-73 setback against Harding in the Great American Conference Tournament championship game on Sunday.
Five days after that dramatic Lady Bisons’ victory, the two sides will meet again.
Harding (27-3) is ranked No. 10 in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association NCAA Division II top 25 poll, and it is the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Division II Tournament Central Regional.
The Lady Bisons have won 13 consecutive games overall. They are 12-0 at home this season, and Harding has won 14 straight women’s basketball games at Rhodes-Reaves Field House dating back to last season.
Included in that recent home success for the Lady Bisons is a 72-58 victory over Arkansas Tech earlier this season. Harding is 4-0 against the Golden Suns in games played at Searcy over the past four years.
And yet, there is hope for seventh-seeded Arkansas Tech on Friday, primarily because the Golden Suns played perhaps their best basketball of the season over the weekend at the GAC Tournament.
Arkansas Tech blitzed Southwestern Oklahoma State University, a team that had defeated the Suns twice during the regular season, 96-60 in the semifinals on Saturday.
Tech became the first opponent in Harding’s last 20 games to shoot better than 40 percent from the field on Sunday, and the Golden Suns led 73-69 in the final two minutes before the Lady Bisons closed the game on a 6-0 run.
Both sides are led by a four-time All-GACÂ performer.
Arkansas Tech’s Anissa Pounds averages 13.8 points per game. She has scored 1,522 points during her four years in the green and gold, and her 268 made 3-pointers are third-most in Tech women’s basketball history. Only Mindy Lasater (279 from 1998-2002) and Dawn Grell (270 from 1990-94) have made more 3-pointers for the Golden Suns.
Harding’s A’ndrea Haney averages 11.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. She is the Lady Bisons’ all-time leader in career steals (258), and she ranks third in Harding history in career assists (467).
Pounds and Haney were both All-GAC first team selections in 2016-17. They were both named to the All-GAC Tournament team last weekend. They have spent a great deal of time guarding each other over the past four years. One of their college basketball careers will end on Friday night.
The winner of the Tech-Harding game will face either Minnesota State University-Moorhead or the University of Central Missouri in the regional semifinals at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 11. The region championship game, with a berth in the NCAA Division II Women’s Elite Eight on the line, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, March 13.
All games during the NCAA Division II Tournament Central Regional will be played at Rhodes-Reaves Field House.
