Box Score

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – The Harding women's basketball team came up short on Saturday as they fell to No. 3 Delta State 59-56 in the semifinals of the Gulf South Conference Tournament. The Lady Bisons fall to 18-10 on the season.

The Lady Bisons still have an outside chance to advance to the NCAA Division II Tournament because of their first round win over North Alabama who was regional ranked fourth. Harding currently ranks 10th in the region. The tournament field will be announced on Sunday at 8:30 p.m., on ncaa.com.

With 6:21 left to play in the game, Harding led 53-43 when freshman forward Kristen Celsor made a layup to give the Lady Bisons their largest lead of the game. Delta State battled back and went on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to five. At the 4:13 mark, junior guard Sierra Rollins hit a layup to give Harding a 55-48 advantage. The Lady Bisons couldn't find the bottom of the net the rest of the way which opened the door for the Lady Statesmen. With 42 seconds remaining Veronica Walker hit a layup to tie the game 56-56. On their next possession she hit two free throws to put Delta State on top 58-56. Down the stretch, Harding went 1-of-4 from the free throw line and had three turnovers.

Senior guard Brittany Gottsponer led the Lady Bisons with a career-high 14 points as she hit 5-of-7 from the field. Senior guard Bailey St. Clair had 13 points and Celsor had 10 points. Delta State held HU leading scorer Rollins to eight points and three rebounds. Junior forward Cherilyn McMenamy led Harding on the boards with nine.

Walker led the Lady Statesmen with 22 points and 12 rebounds. She went 6-of-12 from the field and was perfect from the free throw line hitting 10-of-10. Bug Cooper had 14 points, hitting 6-of-8 free throws.

As a team, Delta State made 21-of-26 free throws (80.8 percent). The last time they shot over 80 percent from the free throw line was against Harding earlier this season.

Harding had seven blocks in the game from three different players who each tied a career high. Celsor led HU with three, McMenamy had two and junior forward Kallie Bartee had two.

The Lady Bisons outshot the Lady Statesmen in the game. Harding made 21-of-47 shots (44.7 percent) and Delta State made 18-of-57 shots (31.6 percent).