The women’s basketball team secured its first double overtime win in program history on Monday, Feb. 15, by defeating 15th-ranked Arkansas Tech University (ATU) 82-79 in the Rhodes-Reaves Field House. The victory came after the Lady Bisons had split two road games in the previous week, defeating the University of Arkanasas at Monticello 71-55 on Thursday, Feb. 11, and losing to Ouachita Baptist University 87-83 on Saturday, Feb. 13.
After losing to ATU 80-52 earlier this season, the Lady Bisons held the Golden Suns to 41 percent shooting in the first half and 39 percent in the second half.
According to sophomore forward Sydney Layrock, the team was intimidated going into its first matchup with ATU but felt more confident playing them at home.
“(Monday night’s game) was different because we knew what we were walking into,” Layrock said. “We knew that we could hang with them if we just shot the ball well and did what we knew we could do.”
This was Layrock’s third consecutive game to lead the team in scoring with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while junior guard Andi Haney had 18 points and five assists. Five Lady Bisons scored in double digits in Monday’s game. The Lady Bisons are ranked second in the Great American Conference standings with a record of 13-5.
Haney said that early foul trouble for ATU was a big key in the victory. ATU had four out of five starters foul out during the game. The Lady Bisons committed 17 fouls in the game, while ATU committed 33.
“We just concentrated more on defense this time, which got them out of their rhythm and helped us do our own thing on the offensive end,” Haney said. “It was a big win in order to show us as a team how good we can be if we play together and have confidence in each other.”
According to head coach Tim Kirby, the plays that helped the Lady Bisons win were the ones that got them to the free-throw line. The Lady Bisons shot 64 percent from the free-throw line.
“It was a very physical game, and I thought we handled that challenge pretty well,” Kirby said. “To be able to do that for 50 minutes and still be playing hard at the end, I was pretty pleased with our effort.”
The Lady Bisons will tip-off against Henderson State University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20, in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Results from the Thursday, Feb. 19 game against Southern Arkansas University were unavailable as of press time.
