BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – The Harding women's basketball team defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State 77-63 on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the Great American Conference Tournament. The Lady Bisons will play Southwestern Oklahoma State at 12 p.m., on Saturday.

Sophomore forward Arielle Saunders came within a block to capture a triple-double in the game. Saunders had 10 points, a career-high 18 rebounds and broke the Harding school individual game record with nine blocks.

Harding (19-8) was led in scoring by sophomore guard Shana Holmes who hit a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with 21 points. Holmes also had four assists and four steals. Junior guard Deshelle Isaac-Boyce came off the bench for the Lady Bisons and had 13 points, hitting 4-of-6 from the field.

Junior forward Kristen Celsor needed four points coming into the game to become the 13th Harding player to reach 1,000 points in a career. Celsor reached the milestone within the first two minutes of action on Thursday. She finished the game with 17 points as she hit four 3-pointers. Celsor also had nine rebounds and four assists.

The Lady Bisons led by five, 27-22, with 4:10 left to go in the first half. Southeastern Oklahoma went on a 7-0 run to take a 29-27 lead with 1:39 left. Holmes then made a 3-pointer to put Harding up 29-30 with 1:23 left in the first half. The Savage Storm had to a chance to take the lead but only made 1-of-2 free throws as the two teams went into halftime tied with 32-32. The Lady Bisons were 5-of-21 from behind the 3-point line in the first half.

Harding opened the second half with five-straight points. SOSU quickly cut the HU lead back to one on a jumper by sophomore forward Haley Schaefer. The Savage Storm then went on a 12-2 run to take a 50-43 lead with 12:48 left to play. Back-to-back 3-pointers by the Lady Bisons started a 20-3 run over the next eight minutes as HU led 63-53 with 4:15 left to play. Holmes hit a big 3-pointer for the Lady Bisons with 3:24 left that squashed Savage Storm's hopes of cutting into the Harding lead. Harding led by as much as 17 and went onto win their second straight game. It was the fifth straight season Harding has won their conference tournament opener.

Southeastern Oklahoma State (10-17) was led by senior guard Bailey Welch had 14 points. Sophomore guard Emily Williams came off the bench and scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds for the Savage Storm.

The Harding defense held SOSU to shooting 35.9 percent (23-of-64). Southeastern Oklahoma State made six 3-pointers.

The Lady Bisons outrebounded the Savage Storm 43-35. Harding also had 19 assists in the game as four players had four or more assists.