SEARCY – The Harding women's basketball team defeated East Central on Saturday 72-51 in Great American Conference action at the Rhodes Field House. The Lady Bisons improved to 12-5 overall and 8-3 in the GAC.

East Central (13-4, 8-3 GAC) was tied for first in the GAC standings coming into the game on Saturday but are now tied with HU for third place. Ouachita Baptist and Arkansas Tech both won on Saturday to remain at the top.   

Harding had four players that finished in double-figures. Junior forward Kristen Celsor led HU with 16 points. Sophomore guard Shana Holmes hit a career-high four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Senior guard Deshelle Isaac-Boyce had 12 points and sophomore forward Arielle Saunders captured her seventh double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Montana Lewis also had 10 rebounds for HU.

The Lady Bisons hit a season-high 10 3-pointers. Along with Holmes' 3-pointers,  Celsor and sophomore guard Tabitha Haney both had two.

Harding trailed in the opening minutes until back-to-back field goals by Saunders tied the game at six. HU then went on a 21-2 run to take a 32-13 lead with 8:47 left in the first half. East Central battled back and cut the HU lead to 11 at halftime, 37-26.

In the first 10 minutes of the second half Harding built their lead to 16, 56-40. ECU cut the HU led to 11 with 7:03 left on a layup by sophomore forward Dilan Webster. The Harding defense then forced East Central to miss their next seven shots in a five minute span. The Lady Bisons took advantage of ECU's missed shots and built their lead to as much as 26.

East Central was led by Webster who had 18 points, hitting 8-of-13 from the field. Senior guard Kodi Morrison had 13 points. Junior forward Alycea Price led ECU on the boards with eight.

The Harding defense held ECU to shooting 35.2 percent from the field (19-of-54). It was the sixth time this season a GAC opponent has shot at or below 35 percent.  The Lady Bisons also forced 17 turnovers and had 11 steals. It was the second-straight game the Lady Bisons had 11 steals.

Harding had a season-low seven turnovers in the game.

Harding will be back in action next Thursday as they travel to Bethany, Okla., to face Southern Nazarene at 5:30 p.m.