Top-ranked Suns hold off Blossoms

NO. 1 ARKANSAS TECH 76, ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 68

RUSSELLVILLE — The Arkansas Tech women’s basketball team breezed through its eight- game nonconference schedule without a blemish, winning by an average of more than 30 points per game.

But Golden Suns Coach Dave Wilbers knew he’d see a game like Thursday’s sooner rather than later.

“You try to put your players through it during practice, but it’s not a game-situation,” Wilbers said. “You know it’s coming. And it usually comes in the first conference game.”

That’s what Wilbers and the Golden Suns got Thursday at Tucker Coliseum.

Arkansas Tech, the topranked team in NCAA Division II, had its 16- point lead whittled to nine at halftime and then had to come back from a four-point deficit on the way to a 76-68 victory over Arkansas-monticello in the Great American Conference opener for both schools.

The Golden Suns’ perfect season — they improved to 9-0 overall and 1-0 in the GAC — stayed intact as did their 40-game home winning streak, the longest active string in Division II.

But perhaps more important for Wilbers was seeing his team and its two new starting guards win a game that was in doubt in the second half for the first time all season.

“I think we responded well and made some big plays,” he said.

Channon Haywood’s breakaway basket as the firsthalf buzzer sounded got UAM (4-7, 0-1) within 42-33. After Arkansas Tech pushed its lead to 46-35 two minutes into the second half, UAM went on a 10-1 run.

Ariel Billington’s jumper made it 49-47 and Candace Virgadamo’s three- pointer from the wing gave UAM its first lead at 50-49. Billington later made 1 of 2 free throws and Haywood added a basket to make it 53-49 with 10:43 left, giving Arkansas Tech its largest second-half deficit of the season.

“When you’re No. 1, I think everybody that plays against you, they have their best game,” forward Natalia Santos said. “So you can’t [mess] up.”

Santos, Arkansas Tech’s leading scorer at more than 19 points per game, finished with 17, as did newcomer guards Lily Abreu and Roselis Silva. But it was reserve forward Samantha Ludwig who had some of the biggest plays to hold off UAM’S upset bid.

Ludwig entered with 14 minutes left when starter Jessica Weatherford picked up her fourth foul. Ludwig’s putback on Katie Horsman’s missed three- pointer got Arkansas Tech within 53-51, and her basket off a break on the next possession tied the game at 55-55. UAM never regained the lead.

Ludwig followed that with a three-point play that gave Arkansas Tech a 58-55 lead and her offensive rebound later kept alive a possession that ended with a Santos turnaround jumper to push the lead to 62-57. Ludwig finished with 7 points and 4 rebounds in 15 minutes.

“Sam played great,” Wilbers said. “She’s been doing it all year long, but it hurts us because [ Weatherford] is on the bench and there’s no rotation there.”

Arkansas Tech was able to overcome the foul trouble, Horsman fouled out and two others played the second half with three fouls, and withstand UAM’S charge.

Chelsea Johnson led UAM with 17 points and Virgadamo added 14.

“Great teams make plays at the end. They find ways to win,” said Tanya Ray, UAM’S first-year coach. “I think we can look at this team as an example of what we want to be.”