Box Score

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – Senior forward Stacey Owens scored a career-high 31 points to lead the Harding women's basketball team past North Alabama 73-66 on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Gulf South Conference Tournament in Southaven, Miss. It is the first time since the Lady Bisons joined the GSC that they have gone to the semifinals of the GSC Tournament.

Owens' career-high was the most points by a Lady Bison since Jasmine McClindon scored 34 points against Arkansas-Monticello on Feb. 2, 2006. It also surpassed Catherine McMenemy's 30 points for the most points in a GSC Tournament game. Owens was 9-of-17 from the field with four 3-pointers and 9-of-11 from the free-throw line. Owens first missed shot came with 48 seconds remaining in the first half.

Harding (17-11) sprinted out of halftime to take a 12-point lead but North Alabama (17-14) answered on 13-0 run to take over the lead with 13:42 left to go in the game. It proved to be the only lead for the Lions as Harding stopped the run on an Owens 3-point at the 13:01 mark. North Alabama tried to rally late but Harding sealed the win by hitting 5-of-8 free throws down the stretch.

Junior Bailey St. Clair was 4-of-6 from the field and finished with 13 points for the Lady Bisons. Sophomore guard Sierra Rollins poured in 12 points of her own and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

The Lady Bisons scored 34 points in the paint to North Alabama's 26.

Senior guard Kaitlin Skinner played all 40 minutes of the game. It was the first time a Lady Bison has played the entire game all season.

The Lady Bisons will take on Arkansas Tech at 12:30 p.m., on Saturday for a chance to go to the GSC Championship.