Lampo leads Lady Bisons in GAC tourney
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — Jessieville alum Kellie Lampo, the newly-named Great American Conference Freshman of the Year, starred for the Harding Lady Bisons Friday in the first round of the GAC Women’s Basketball Championships.
Playing in her first GAC tournament game, Lampo set a tournament record for field goals made without a miss as Harding (17-14) won, 73-63, in the conference quarterfinals against Southeastern Oklahoma State (13-15). She went 8-for-8 en route to finishing with a game-high 19 points to go along with nine rebounds.
Lampo was named Freshman of the Year during the GAC awards banquet Wednesday. She also made the All-GAC Second Team for the reigning GAC tournament champions.
Her perfect shooting night contributed to Harding (17-14) shooting a GAC Championship record 58.7 percent from the floor. Arkansas Tech owned the prior top shooting night in a tournament game as the Golden Suns made 54 percent of their shots in their semifinal win against East Central in 2013.
The Lady Bisons took advantage of their strong interior play and outscored the Savage Storm, 40-22, inside the paint. They also won the rebounding battle by a 34-21 margin.
The win was the 11th in the last 13 games for Harding, a participant in the NCAA Division II Tournament Final Four a year ago. The Lady Bisons were 6-11 overall and
2-7 in conference play after a 77-64 loss to No. 2-seed Arkansas Tech
(24-3, 19-3) on Jan. 15. Harding surged through the end of the regular season to earn the fourth seed with a GAC record of
12-10. Southeastern was fifth at 11-11. The win put Harding in the semifinals Saturday against top-seed Southwestern Oklahoma State (26-3,
20-2).
The Lady Bulldogs won both contests in the regular season, 84-73 in Searcy and 103-77 at home. The two have met in three previous GAC Championships. The Lady Bulldogs own a perfect 3-0 record in those contests.
Southeastern opened Friday’s game on a 9-3 run, capped by a Courtney Brady layup, but finished the first quarter by getting outscored
11-2 and trailed 14-11 after the first. Threes by Alix Robinson and Cierra Rangel would each tie the game early in the second quarter, and an Emem David layup followed by a Sa’Liesha Hunter three put the Savage Storm back in front at 22-19 with 7:00 to go in the half.
Harding used an 11-0 run to take a 30-22 lead with 3:20 remaining. The run started with a layup by senior Sydney Layrock, of Paragould, and included 3-pointers from Peyton Padgett, of Frisco, Texas, and Carissa Caples, of Rose Bud. Harding led the rest of the way.
The 11-0 run was part of a larger
19-5 run to open up a 38-27 lead before a Rangel free throw made the score 38-28 at halftime.
Harding led by as many as 14 points three times in the second half. A Brady jumper in the third kicked off an 11-2 run capped by a Hunter layup to make it 48-43 with 3:40 to go in the third.
The Lady Bisons closed the quarter on a 9-2 run and the Savage Storm railed 57-45 to start the fourth. A layup by Sydnie Jones, out of Central Arkansas Christian, gave Harding a
59-45 lead early in the quarter. Southeastern closed to within six points on a 3-pointer by Katie Branham that cut Harding’s lead to 63-57 with 3:09 left. Amanda Kearney, of Branson, Mo., made a layup and four free throws down the stretch to help the Lady Bisons maintain their lead.
Brady, who earned honorable mention All-GAC, led Southeastern with 16 points.
Layrock tallied 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting, while Kearney’s 12 points and Kennedy Cooper’s 10 gave the Lady Bisons four double-digit scorers.
Harding shot 59 percent, its best shooting effort in its 16 games in the GAC Tournament, hitting 27 of 46 attempts. The Lady Bisons controlled the paint, especially in the second half. Harding outscored Southeastern, 22-10, in the paint in the second half and outrebounded the Savage Storm, 21-9. The game totals favored Harding, 40-22, in the paint and, 3421, on the boards.
Harding has now won six of its last seven and 11 of 13 against Southeastern. The Lady Bisons have won all three GAC Tournament matchups.