OKLAHOMA CITY (March 15, 2014) – The scene was joyfully familiar for Oklahoma Christian's Lady Eagles – standing on the court holding a championship banner after beating another former Sooner Athletic Conference rival and clinching a national-tournament bid.
Senior forward Roz Hamilton earned tournament most valuable player honors with a 19-point, 11-rebound performance to lead OC past Mid-America Christian 83-73 on Saturday afternoon in the Eagles' Nest in the National Christian College Athletic Association Central Region title game.
Before last year, the Lady Eagles hadn't won a postseason title since 1986. Now, OC has won two in as many years, as the Lady Eagles took last year's NCCAA regional title by beating Southern Nazarene in Bartlesville. OC (17-11) will play starting Wednesday in the NCCAA Championship at Grace University in Winona Lake, Ind. The Lady Eagles finished fourth at nationals last season.
"Two in two years! Let's keep that going," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "I'm so happy for Roz and Krista (Stevens). They've persevered through some injuries, and (Kaitlyn) Morris also. I'm happy for them. I hope we can go up there and give a better showing that we did last year."
As almost always seems to be the case with the Lady Eagles, the stars were numerous on Saturday against MACU (18-14). Stevens, a senior guard, hit three 3-pointers in the first half to set the tone and finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four steals. Sophomore guard Sydney Hill added 12 points and five rebounds and junior guard Logan McKee added 10 points.
Stevens and freshman center McKenzie Stanford, who had 16 points and six rebounds, joined Hamilton on the all-tournament team. That balance allowed the Lady Eagles to survive MACU's hot 3-point shooting in the second half – the Lady Evangels went 7-of-13 from behind the arc after going 1-of-12 in the first half.
But even when MACU made a late rally, the Lady Eagles remained confident, Hamilton said.
"We talked about how we were going to win this game," she said. "I don't think there were any doubts. We didn't think we were going to lose it. I think that's how we were able to hold on to it and hit free throws at the end."
MACU, which had won at OC in each of the last two meetings between the teams, led 21-18 midway through the first half after two free throws by April Williams. Senior Mica Havens answered with a three-point play to tie the game, starting a 24-12 push by the Lady Eagles that gave them a 42-33 halftime lead.
Hamilton, saddled by early foul trouble, opened the second half with a flourish, scoring the first six points to extend OC's lead to 48-33 with 18:04 left. The rest of the game followed a pattern – MACU would cut into that margin, then OC would answer. OC's lead stayed between nine and 16 points for the next 16 minutes.
"I was very frustrated because they were calling lots of fouls, so I had to sit out a lot in the first half," Hamilton said. "We talked about … how we needed to stop fouling and rebound better. I think that kind of made it easier to come out a little bit harder."
OC led 75-59 after two free throws by Hamilton with 4:42 left. Ashlee Ferguson hit two 3-pointers during an 8-0 run by MACU that pulled the Lady Evangels within 75-67 with 1:36 left, but Hill followed with a layup and McKee, Hill and Stanford combined to go 6-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final 59.9 seconds to clinch the win.
"We kept grabbing a little bit of a lead, and then you build it up, and here they come and get two threes," Findley said. "But we know that's what they're capable of. They play in runs and can really get hot from the 3-point line.
"We came out after halftime looking to try to take advantage inside and I thought Roz did a good job of getting us going right after halftime when we were doing that. Then we were looking for the mismatches and maybe posting up smaller people, but still trying to take the ball inside."
Ferguson finished with 15 points while Lauren McKinney had 15 points and 12 rebounds for MACU. Both also made the all-tournament team, along with Colorado Christian's Jessica Murdoch. Tierra Brown and Cheyenne Been added 13 points each for the Lady Evangels, who hurt themselves with 25 turnovers.
OC finished 12-1 at home this season, losing only to Lubbock Christian (Texas), which finished 25-1 and went a perfect 20-0 in Heartland Conference play.
