Entering Saturday afternoon's game at the Duke Wells Center, the Henderson State Women's Basketball team had yet to lose a Great American Conference game, but by the end of the afternoon, nationally-ranked No. 9 Arkansas Tech University was able to power past Henderson, 80-63.

The Golden Suns (11-2, 3-2 GAC) led the entire game, but did not hold a double-digit lead until just before the end of the first half.

Despite shooting just 29 percent (9-of-31) in the opening half, the Lady Reddies (11-4, 4-1 GAC) held close for much of the half to the former top-ranked team in NCAA Division II.

A made layup by HSU's Vanessa Pieper with 5:24 left in the first half pulled the Lady Reddies to within two points, 25-23. Tech would avoid the threat and quickly extended their lead to five points, 28-23, after a trifecta from Natalia Santos. That three-pointer sparked a 13-4 run by Tech to close out the half and gave the Golden Suns an 11-point lead, 38-27.

The momentum from the late first half run carried over into the second half as Tech opened with a 7-1 run over the first three minutes to race out to a 17-point lead, 45-28. Cheree Freeman's layup broke up the run, but Tech used another three-pointer, this time from Katie Horsman, to spark another monster run. This run, which gave Tech their largest lead of the game, 27 points, was a 13-1 run and lasted six minutes of game time.

From there, the Golden Suns would maintain control of the game and ended the conference clash with a 17-point margin of victory, 80-63.

Freeman led the Lady Reddies in scoring with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting (55 percent). Freeman also led the team with five steals, four rebounds, and had a pair of blocks. Pieper was not far behind with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor (55 percent). The Warren, Ark. native surpassed her single-game career-high of 11 points, set in the Lady Reddies' previous game. Shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe helped Crystal Harrison finish with 10 points.

As a team, the Lady Reddies were able to force more turnovers than Tech was, 25-23, but the Golden Suns dominated on both sides of the glass, out-rebounding the Lady Reddies 46-30.

The Lady Reddies will have a quicker turnaround than normal following a Saturday game as they will take the trip across Arkansas Highway 7 to take on Ouachita Baptist on Monday, January 23rd. The first installment of basketball side of the Battle of the Ravine is set for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.