RUSSELLVILLE, ARKANSAS - Northwestern Oklahoma State closed out a 80-68 victory over Arkansas Tech Thursday evening. This is Northwestern's third straight victory completing wins over Henderson State, Southwestern, and Arkansas Tech. Northwestern used a 7-0 run to take control of the game early in the fourth quarter and never lost the lead.

Carly Craig finished with a career high 27 points as one of three double figure scorers. She was joined by Faith Simpson with 21 points and nine rebounds, along with Camile Thomas with 15 points in the win.

Craig opened the scoring knocking down her first three pointer of the game. Arkansas Tech quickly answered back with a three. Northwestern answered back going inside scoring the next six points inside the paint off two steals.

The Golden Suns answered back, tying the game at 9-9 halfway through the first quarter. They eventually took a 15-10 lead after continuing their run. Northwestern answers back though with seven straight following two layups followed by a three from Craig for a 17-15 lead. The high scoring opening quarter continued as Faith Simpson made a layup and Arkansas Tech answered with a three as the quarter ended 21-21.

Northwestern answered with a jump shot to take a 23-21 lead starting the second quarter. Craig hit her third three of the half taking a 30-24 lead with 6:53 remaining in the quarter. Arkansas Tech tried to cut into the Ranger lead but Nikya Orange answered with a layup followed by a Craig three and Northwestern led 37-30 at the second quarter media timeout. Out of the break Josena Frame hit a three pointer to extend the lead to eight at 40-32. Northwestern took advantage of a couple of points from the foul line to take a 42-34 lead.

Arkansas Tech however closed the half on a 6-0 run to cut the lead down to two points as the Rangers led 42-40 at halftime.

The Golden Suns knocked down a three pointer by Shipman to start the third quarter regaining the lead for the first time since the opening quarter. Simpson answered back though followed by a Craig three as the Rangers led 47-46. A three minute scoring drought by both teams as the defensive intensity increased before a Simpson layup for a 49-46 lead.

Northwestern scored three points off a Craig jump shot and one point at the foul line as after scoring 40 plus points combined in each of the first two quarters there was only 21 points combined. Northwestern held a 52-51 advantage through three quarters of play.

Paige Scott started the fourth quarter for the Rangers knocking down a three pointer to take a 55-51 lead. The Rangers pushed their run to 7-0 to start the quarter as Simpson foul shots followed by a Craig jumper pushed the lead to 59-51. Scott hit her second three of the quarter to keep the Rangers up by seven after Arkansas Tech slightly closed the gap.

Scott hitting her third three of the quarter and game pushed the lead to double digits as the Rangers went up 67-57 within five minutes. Prater answered with a three cutting it back to seven. Simpson once again pushed the lead back to nine. Camile Thomas finished off a layup to take a 73-64 lead.a fast-break layup closed off foul shot extending the lead back to double digits one last time. Craig closed out the win at the foul line with two foul shots for an 80-68 victory over Arkansas Tech.

The Rangers will be back in action on Saturday afternoon against Harding University for the second of three games on the road.

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