Alva Review-Courier -

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Jacie Higgins put together a 19-point, five rebound, five assist performance and Hannah Villines added 16 points and a team-high six rebounds as the hot shooting Arkansas Tech Golden Suns basketball team (11-13, 8-10 Great American Conference) raced past Arkansas-Monticello (6-16, 5-12 GAC) 82-59 on Saturday afternoon at Tucker Coliseum.

NEXT UP

The Golden Suns will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 21, as Tech travels to Shawnee, Okla. To face Oklahoma Baptist. A 5:30 p.m. tip-off is scheduled.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Monticello jumped out to a 6-0 lead, as the Cotton Blossoms forced Tech to miss its first six shots.

Arkansas Tech responded with an 8-0 run, fueled by six straight points from Hannah Villines (8-6).

UAM scored the next five points to take an 11-8 lead with 3;20 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Suns closed out the final three minutes on a 10-2 run, led by Higgins who scored eight points, giving Tech an 18-13 lead.

Tech took a ten point advantage (32-13) after Higgins drained her third 3-pointer of the game at the 8:57 minute mark.

The Suns maintained their ten point advantage over the next two minutes, until a 7-0 UAM run brought the score to 27-24 with 4:25 to play in the half.

Tech stretched its lead back to seven points after a Ryan Goodsell layup (34-27).

Monticello ended the half on a 7-3 run, putting the score at 37-34 at the break.

Tech opened the third quarter on a 8-3 run to go up by eight (45-37) and later saw that lead grow to 11 points after Villines scored seven straight point for Tech (52-41).

The Cotton Blossoms ended the quarter on a 4-1 run, trimming the deficit to eight (53-45) at the end of the third quarter,

Tech controlled the fourth quarter, making ten of its last 13 shots, pushing its lead 16 (65-49) after a Higgins layup, before a Jayana Sanders 3-pointer gave the Suns an 18 point advantage (74-56) with 4:42 left to play.

The Suns ended the game on an 8-2 run, ceiling an 82-59 win for Tech.

NOTABLES

Sanders and Moses also scored in double-figures with 13 and 11 points apiece. Sanders also added a game-high seven assists.

Tech outshot UAM 53.7 percent to 36.2 percent. The Golden Suns connected on a 76.9 percent clip in the fourth quarter.

Tech also held a 32-25 rebounding advantage and a 36-28 advantage in points in the paint.

Tech forced 18 UAM turnovers and scored 25 points off those miscues.

Tech made the most of its trips to the charity stripe, connecting on 14-of-16 free throws. Villines connected on four freebies.