ADA, Oklahoma – Senior forward Arielle Saunders scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Harding women's basketball team to a 58-53 Great American Conference win on Saturday.

The Lady Bisons improved to 19-5 on the season and 14-3 in the GAC. With the win and an Arkansas Tech loss on Saturday, Harding takes sole possession of first place in the GAC standings. The two teams will meet on Thursday in Russellville, Ark., at 5:30 p.m.

Harding, ranked No. 6 in the NCAA II Central Region Rankings, has already sealed a spot in the GAC Tournament held in Bartlesville, Oklahoma March 5-8. With the win on Saturday, Harding is guaranteed to either be the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the tournament.

Saunders went 7-of-14 from the floor and went 4-of-6 from the free throw line for Harding. She also captured her 200th career block in the game. Saunders is the all-time blocked shots leader at Harding with 201.

Freshman forward Sydney Layrock had 12 points, hitting 6-of-7 free throws for the Lady Bisons.

"I thought for the whole game we were really focused," Head Coach Tim Kirby said. "We just played a solid game all the way through."

With 3:05 left in the game Harding had a 10 point lead after a layup by Saunders. East Central went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to five 53-48 with 44 seconds left. In the closing seconds, Harding made 5-of-6 free throws to seal the win.

East Central (15-9, 11-7 GAC) was led by Erin Walling who made 10 field goals and ended with 28 points for the Tigers.

Harding didn't allow East Central to make one 3-pointer in the game. The Tigers went 0-for-7 from behind the arc.

Each team only made 19 field goals in the game as Harding shot 31.7 percent from the field and East Central shot 37.3 percent.

Harding scored 30 of its points in the paint and held East Central to only 14. The Tigers only had two points in the paint in the first half.