ALVA, Okla. - Chelsea Blankenship totaled three hits to help lead the Harding Lady Bisons over the Northwestern Oklahoma 4-2 Saturday in Great American Conference action. Harding got the series sweep with the win.

Harding improves to 32-14 overall and 18-9 in the GAC. With Saturday's win, the Lady Bisons secured their spot in the GAC Tournament May 5-7 in Bentonville, Arkansas. Harding will be fighting for seeding the rest of the regular season.

Northwestern Oklahoma falls to 13-28-1 overall and 7-20 in the GAC.

Lily Tanski (11-6) started in the circle and picked up the win. The right-hander went five innings, giving up one run on four hits, allowing no walks and striking out one. Abby Burch got the save pitching one scoreless inning and striking out two. It was her fourth save of the season.

Nicole Shano also went 1-for-2 at the plate with a triple, two walks and an RBI. Ashlyn Peterson also had one hit and knocked in two runs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After three scoreless innings, Harding got on the board in the fourth when Peterson drove in a run when she grounded out to second.

The Lady Bisons added another run in the fifth when Nicole Shano hit a triple to right field that scored Ashton Bryce.

Northwestern Oklahoma made it 2-1 in the fifth scoring a run on a bunt single.

Harding took a 4-1 lead in the sixth scoring two runs on four hits. After a double by Chelsea Blankenship, Peterson hit a double to right center to score the first run of the inning. Hanna Jones drove in the other run when she hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Jordan Cabana.

The Rangers got another run back in the sixth on a solo home run.

GAME NOTES

» The Lady Bisons out-hit the Rangers at an 11-7 clip.
» Harding stole five bases in the game.
» Harding went 5-for-16 (.313) with runners in scoring position.
» Harding pitchers faced 30 Northwestern Oklahoma hitters in the game, allowing six ground balls and 11 fly balls while striking out four.
» Northwestern Oklahoma was led offensively by Hannah Howell, who went 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI.
» Hannah Howell received the loss for the Rangers. She started and went 5.1 innings.

Harding will be back in action Tuesday when it travels to Claremore, Oklahoma to take on No. 2 Rogers State in a non-conference doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.