SWOSU Basketball took on a pair of Arkansas Great American Conference teams last week and found mixed results through the games. The women and men took on Arkansas Tech on Thursday, followed by matchups with Harding on Saturday.
Tipping things off first, were the Lady Bulldogs, who quickly found themselves in a hole, getting down by as many as 20 points midway through the second. The slow start proved detrimental through the second half for the squad. The Dawgs could keep pace with Arkansas Tech, but could not cut into the lead until midway through the fourth quarter. They cut the lead down to eight points, but it proved to be too little too late as the women fell 70-80.
Next, the Bulldogs took the court, and the game quickly developed to be a low-scoring, defensive battle. The Dawgs kept things fairly close in the first half but struggled to generate any offense in the second, starting on a nearly four-minute scoring drought. The Bulldogs scored only 16 in the second and lost 44-59.
Saturday was senior day for SWOSU, and it proved to be a magical day for both programs.
The Lady Bulldogs faced a tall task, taking on the highly ranked Harding Bisons (ranked third nationally in one ranking system, and fifth nationally in another) Despite the rankings, the Dawgs were unphased, outscoring the Bisons in both the first and second quarter. Another strong quarter found the Lady Bulldogs up by as many as 17 points just after the third quarter. However, the Lady Bisons went on a 13-1 run midway through the fourth, and the game became very tight. The lead was cut all the way down to one, but two Mason Jones free throws helped to give the Dawgs a three-point win, 51-54.
Following the major upset win, the men’s team found themselves in a game opposite that of Thursday. The back-and-forth game was filled with offense, neither team took more than an eight-point lead in the second half. A clutch three, and two clutch free throws by Jalen Johnson helped deadlock the game at 69 with 1:47 left in the second half. After neither team scored, the game went to overtime. Similarly to the second half, overtime was a back-and-forth affair, but clutch free throw shooting sealed the win for the Bulldogs, 80-77.
The women clinched a spot in the GAC tournament, and currently hold fifth place. The men are sitting in seventh place. Both teams are at home for the home finale on Thursday, taking on ECU at 5:30 and 7:30, come out and support the Dawgs one last time at home!
