ALVA, Okla. – Harding played great defense and dominated under the basket to defeat Northwestern Oklahoma 71-57 Thursday in Great American Conference women's basketball at the Percefull Fieldhouse.

Harding opened the game on a 10-0 run and led by at least eight points the rest of the way. It was Harding won for the fourth time in its last five games and improved to 12-5 overall and 7-4 in GAC games. Northwestern lost for the fifth time in its last six and fell to 6-12 overall and 3-8 in conference.

Harding entered the game as the GAC's leader in field-goal percentage defense and rebound margin. The Lady Bisons limited the Lady Rangers to 32.7 percent shooting and held a 47-21 rebound advantage. Harding had 15 offensive rebounds and outscored Northwestern Oklahoma 17-0 on second-chance points.

Harding had five players score 10 points or more led by Carissa Caples with 17. Kellie Lampo had 15 and a team-high nine rebounds. Cheyenne Brown had 12 points and seven rebounds, Peyton Padgett had 11 points, and Amanda Kearney added 10.

Bailey Brown led Northwestern Oklahoma with 17 points.

Harding held Northwestern Oklahoma to only 10 field goals and 35 percent shooting in the first half and led 36-25 at the break.

Caples made two 3-pointers and scored eight of her 10 first-half points in the first quarter.

Harding held a 28-12 rebound margin at halftime, and the Lady Bisons's nine offensive rebounds led to a 10-0 second-chance points advantage.

Harding's largest lead of the first half came with 4:56 left in the second quarter when the Lady Bisons took a 27-11 lead on Lampo's put-back layup.

Harding outscored Northwestern 15-14 in the third quarter and opened fourth quarter with consecutive 3s to open 17-point lead. The Lady Bisons led by as many as 24 points with just under four minutes left in the game.

Harding will play its last of three straight road games Saturday at 16th-ranked and GAC leader Southwestern Oklahoma. Tip-off at the Pioneer Events Center is at 11 a.m.