Jennies fall to hot-shooting Golden Suns

                Coming into the rematch, you might have thought it would be low-scoring defensive struggle between Central Missouri and Arkansas Tech since neither team eclipsed the 60 point mark last time. That thought would have been wrong though. The Golden Suns shot 61 percent en route to an 80-76 upset of the Jennies, avenging their loss back at home.
            The Central Missouri took an early 7-3 lead but ATU used an 11-0 run to take an advantage that they wouldn’t relinquish until the second half. UCM cut it to one with 3:09 left in the period before going into the break down 38-36. Meagan Fromm kept the Jens close throughout, putting up 11 points in the half but the Arkansas Tech’s Amanda Grappe started off a big night with 16 first half points on 7-of-8 shooting. She didn’t miss another shot the rest of the way either.
            The Jennies took their first advantage of the second half at the 17:23 mark on a three-pointer by Ashley Millham but the Golden Suns answered with six straight points to take the lead back. The squads battled back and forth before ATU took a six point advantage with five minutes on the clock (the biggest lead of the half by either team).
            Central Missouri fought back to tie it at 68 thanks to four free throws and a steal from Millham but then the clutch shooting took over. ATU’s Christy Mahan hit a three to break the tie and followed that with another one at the 1:43 mark to move the lead to four. Millham then answered with a three of her own to cut the lead to one. Grappe, after hitting only 1-of-4 free throws earlier in the game, came up big with 53 seconds left and hit both charities to move the advantage back to three.
            Central Missouri came down the floor and tied the game with 49 seconds left off a huge three from Lindsey Maple but Mahan hit the biggest shot of the game with 28 seconds left on an open 17 foot jumper. The Jennies missed two contested lay-ups but grabbed the offensive rebound on both to keep possession with eight seconds remaining. Kim Battle drove the lane and was fouled with five seconds on the clock. She was too strong on the first free throw though and was forced to miss the second in hopes of an offensive put-back. It wasn’t to be though as the ball squirted out of bounds and the Jens were forced to foul with two on the clock. ATU hit both and iced the game.
            Fromm finished with 19 to pace the Jens while Millham tallied 16. Maple and Battle put up 11 and 10, respectively. UCM shot a solid 50 percent in the second half but ATU made a blistering 68 percent of its attempts in the stanza. The Golden Suns were led by Grappe with 25 (10-of-11) while Nikki Earles finished with 15. Eight of Mahan’s 10 points came in the final 2:17 as Arkansas Tech went 11-of-22 from three-point land.