Box Score LAREDO, Texas (Jan. 3, 2015) – Traveling the long road to far south Texas didn't do anything to help solve Oklahoma Christian's shooting issues.
OC shot 35.1 percent from the field, was unable to hold a brief early lead and lost to Texas A&M International 82-62 on Saturday afternoon. It was TAMIU's first double-digit win over OC after beating the Lady Eagles three times the past two seasons by a combined five points.
Jasmine Hinton scored a career-high 12 points and
Skyler Newberry added 11 (all before halftime) for OC, but that wasn't nearly enough to offset a balanced TAMIU attack that featured four players who scored between 16 and 20 points each.
"We've got to go back and we've still got work to do, obviously," OC coach
Stephanie Findley said. "But I'm positive about some things that happened in these games and hopefully we can build on it.
"This is a tough place to play, even when you're not struggling like we are. We're struggling on the offensive end and it's hard to go on the road when you're struggling like that. We're hopeful to get back home and maybe find our shots again."
After falling into a quick 6-1 hole, OC (3-9, 0-4 Heartland Conference) answered with three straight baskets – one by Newberry, another by Hinton and a second by Newberry, which put the Lady Eagles ahead 7-6.
Stella Ghazarian, who led TAMIU (7-5, 3-1) with 20 points, answered with a 3-pointer 12 seconds later and the Dustdevils never trailed again.
Back-to-back baskets by
Aisha Martin – one a 3-pointer – pulled OC within 28-25 with 8:25 left in the first half, but the Dustdevils scored the next nine points to rebuild their lead. Newberry fueled a 6-0 OC spurt at the end of the half with two baskets and the Lady Eagles trailed only 39-34 at halftime.
The Lady Eagles came out ice-cold in the second half and TAMIU scored the half's first nine points, part of a 17-2 run that made it 56-36 with 14:38 left. OC came no closer than 15 points after that.
There were a few positives to take away for OC, despite the lopsided loss. Newberry finished just two points off her career high and grabbed six rebounds, while
Kylee Hicks scored a career-high six points, as did freshman
Audrey Hayes in just five minutes of playing time. OC outrebounded the Dustdevils 42-34.
"That's a positive," Findley said. "We're looking for positive things on this road trip. I loved our effort and our energy. Once again we had a letdown for a 10-minute span where we let them get a cushion and we just couldn't come back from that. But the rebounding area was a positive today."
In addition to Gharzarian, Jessica Woo scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Dustdevils, with that pair combining to go 8-of-13 from 3-point range. Kelona Matthews added 19 points, nine assists and six rebounds and Jessica Prieto had 16 points and six assists. TAMIU shot 48.3 percent from the field.
OC's next game will be a home contest against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Thursday.
