Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 21, 2014) – The good news for Oklahoma Christian is that it still controls its own destiny in the Heartland Conference women's basketball race. The bad news for the Lady Eagles is they let a golden opportunity slip away on Saturday afternoon against Arkansas-Fort Smith.

OC led UAFS – which entered the game second in the league standings – with seven minutes to go but shooting woes from both the field and free-throw line proved costly and UAFS rallied for a 58-50 win in the Eagles' Nest.

The shooting numbers for both teams weren't pretty. OC (11-13, 8-8 Heartland) shot 24.3 percent from the field (18 of 74) and 47.6 percent from the free-throw line (47.6 percent). UAFS (16-8, 14-3) shot 31.1 percent from the field (19 of 61), but the Lions shot an acceptable 66.7 percent from the line (18 of 27), which proved to be the difference.

The Lions also outrebounded OC 60-49.

"I think that was the story of the game – free throws and extra attempts that maybe they got on rebounding," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "We were still rebounding pretty well. We had a lot of offensive boards ourselves, but we couldn't capitalize on them and make baskets off of them. When you shoot that poorly, you're probably going to lose."

OC is in a three-way tie for fourth with St. Mary's (Texas) and Texas-Permian Basin in the Heartland standings, with St. Edward's (Texas) a game ahead in third place with two games remaining. If the Lady Eagles can win next week at St. Edward's (on Thursday) and at UTPB (next Saturday), they would finish no lower than a tie for third.

"It's going to be tough on the road," Findley said. "We'll just take them one at a time and see how we do."

The Lady Eagles hit four 3-pointrs in the first 14 minutes but didn't make any after that. Still, they emerged from the first half tied with Arkansas-Fort Smith at 25-25 and they took control early in the second half, taking a 34-27 lead after two free throws by McKenzie Stanford with 14:52 left.

The lead still was seven, 36-29, with 13:31 left, before the Lions went on an 8-0 run to take the lead. Kylee Hicks's reverse lay-in put OC back up 38-37 with 10:49 left. A free throw by Stanford made it 39-37 with 8:33 left.

But Skai Thompson gave UAFS the lead for good at 40-39 with a three-point play with 7:17 left. That started a 10-0 run for the Lions and OC came no closer than four points the rest of the way. But the Lions weren't able to pull away, like they did in a 27-point win over OC on Jan. 24.

"I was real proud of our effort, and the defensive play that we had – just hustling and pushing the ball up the floor," Findley said. "We just couldn't get it to fall."

Sydney Hill had 13 points and nine rebounds to lead OC, while Aisha Martin added 10 points off the bench. Brittany Holbert scored 16 points for UAFS while Angi Ramey had eight points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

The game was the final home contest for OC seniors Kaitlyn Morris, Makenzie Brown, Skyler Newberry and Logan McKee. Morris went 2-of-3 from 3-point range and scored six points while tying her career high with six rebounds.

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