OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (Jan. 6, 2011) – The Oklahoma Christian women's basketball team came out on top against Mid-America Christian University (Okla.) on Thursday night as they won 82-76 in the Nest.
A close game ensued from the beginning as both squads went back-and-forth with the lead. The Lady Eagles grabbed the lead first with a pair of free throw from Katy Clift, but quickly dropped to a four-point deficit when the Lady Evangels responded with six unanswered points.
Minutes later an 11-1 run by the OC women put the Lady Eagles at a six-point advantage with 11:11 still left in the half. The Lady Eagles held the lead for the majority of the second half, but trailed by a point with 5:28 left to play when the Lady Evangels hit a shot from behind the arc.
OC's Clift responded with a three of her own, however, to regain the Lady Eagles' lead. With just 1:06 till the half, OC led by one, but two good free throws from Talor Ward, just seconds before the buzzer, gave OC a 33-30 lead.
Into the second half, the Lady Eagles increased their lead to five, but a 7-2 run from the Mid-America women again put OC at a one-point deficit with 15:59 still left in the game.
The Lady Eagles retaliated with a run of their own as they went 15-2 in the next three minutes to create a 12-point lead over the Lady Evangels and lead the remainder of the game.
With 6:27 to play, the MACU women cut the OC lead to just five and cut it to four a minute later. The Lady Evangels never came any closer than that as the Lady Eagles held the MACU women till the end of regulation and took an 82-76 victory.
Clift led the OC women with 20 total points while Ayanna Jackson contributed another 19 from the perimeter as well.
OC's Krista Steven's made big contributions as well with 17 points of her own in addition to nine rebounds and three steals. Katy O'Steen also helped out from down low with nine points and eight boards.
The win improves the Lady Eagles' record to 8-7 overall and 2-5 for conference play. OC will head across town for their next match as they take on Oklahoma City University on Saturday with the women tipping off at 6 p.m. and the men scheduled to follow at 8 p.m.
-OC-
