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Maddison Ingraham -
Brooklin Bain (gray) defends Mar'Shalia Lollie (blue) -
Tyra Peck shoots a free throw -
Maddison Ingraham (gray) and Dachelle Terry (blue) -
Kendra Levings (gray) guards Hannah Boyett (blue)
The second quarter blitz was the difference in an otherwise even contest.
The Oklahoma Christian women’s basketball team’s early lead vanished in the second quarter on Saturday afternoon as it fell 71-65 to Arkansas-Fort Smith at Payne Athletics Center.
OC (4-4) started strong and led 20-9 late in the first quarter.
UAFS (3-6) responded by outscoring the Lady Eagles 25-12 in the second to take a lead the Lions would never relinquish.
OC coach Stephanie Findley said the Lions started hitting 3-pointers in the second quarter.
“They’re a good 3-point shooting team,” Findley said. “They got some help from some people that aren’t their regular shooters that knocked down some 3s, which then opens it up even more, because you gotta get out and cover those people. They started hitting 3s, and we were not.”
Freshman guard Jasmyn Studamire led the Lions with 19 points. Senior guard Dachelle Terry followed with 14, and senior guard Hannah Boyett had 13 points to go with 10 rebounds.
OC freshman guard Brooklin Bain led all scorers with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Junior forward Kendra Levings followed with 12 points, and senior guard Tyra Peck had 10.
Findley said Bain had a great individual game, but she cannot do it by herself.
“We’ve got to find some other consistent scorers,” Findley said. “That’s our issue right now. We’re not consistently scoring. Out there at their place the other night, we had four people in double figures and probably should have had five. So, it was real balanced, but tonight, it’s not balanced. You can’t depend on one guy to do that.”
OC defeated UAFS 72-68 Thursday. Bain said she thought UAFS was more prepared this time.
“Last game, we were back-cutting and getting open things,” Bain said. “Tonight, they were more up on us.”
The second half was evenly played. The teams each scored 14 in the third quarter, and UAFS edged OC 21-19 in the fourth. The second-quarter blitz was too much for the Lady Eagles to overcome.
OC got the deficit as small as 2 points in the fourth quarter. The Lady Eagles used a 9-1 run, most of it from free throws, to make the score 62-60. Too many empty possessions followed for OC, and the Lions finished the game on a 9-3 run.
Bain said OC needs to work on being more solid on both ends of the floor.
“Knowing where the shooters are,” Bain said. “I think some in this game, we kind of left shooters open that shouldn’t have been open.”