NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Chastity Gooch scored 26 points and WKU used a big closing run to beat Arkansas State 61-60 in the final of the Sun Belt women's tournament on Saturday night.

The second-seeded Lady Toppers, who lost to the top-seeded Red Wolves in both of their regular-season meetings, scored 18 of the last 22 points of the game. They trailed from the 11:00 mark of the first half until going ahead 59-58 on Bianca McGee's 3-pointer with 2:30 left.

Arkansas State went back up on Carlisha Wyatt's layup with 1:39 left, but Kendall Noble responded with a layup at the 1:21 mark. The Red Wolves' Aundrea Gamble missed a contested shot inside in the final seconds.

Gooch added 12 rebounds and blocked three shots for WKU (24-8), which won the Sun Belt tournament for the seventh time. Noble finished with 12 points.

Gamble, the conference player of the year, had 22 points for Arkansas State (22-11), which was trying to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time.