Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 21, 2016) – Oklahoma Christian went with its big lineup on Thursday against an Arkansas-Fort Smith team that has one of the Heartland Conference's tallest frontlines. That decision proved to be a wise one.
OC posted a whopping 52-38 rebounding edge against UAFS, which proved critical as the Lady Eagles hung on for a 77-72 win over a squad that was the Heartland's regular-season co-champion last season and entered the week at No. 10 in the D2SIDA South Central Region rankings.
OC (8-10, 5-3 Heartland) remained in a tie for fourth place in the conference standings, deadlocked with Rogers State and just a half-game behind Texas A&M International and St. Mary's (Texas), which both are 6-3. OC will host Rogers State on Saturday afternoon.
After four straight road games in three states in an eight-day span, the Lady Eagles enjoyed being back at home for the first time since Jan. 2, and they played like it against UAFS (11-6, 4-4).
"It's good to be home," said assistant coach
Larry Truesdell, who filled in for head coach
Stephanie Findley during postgame interviews. "That road trip wore us out. We're a little bit refreshed.
McKenzie Stanford had a great game. She's kind of got her game rolling right now and we got some contributions from a lot of people."
Stanford, a junior forward from Perkins, moved into OC's 1,000-point club – joining teammate
Sydney Hill, who joined that club 19 days earlier – by posting her second double-double of the season with 25 points and 10 rebounds. She also added a career-high three blocked shots, all in the first half, and three assists.
OC's four primary inside players – Stanford,
Sarah Parker,
Hannah Holasek and
Hope Dawkins – combined for 28 of the Lady Eagles' 52 rebounds and controlled the boards against a squad that featured 6-foot-3 Blandine N'Goran and two other 6-footers. The 6-foot Holasek made her fourth start of the season for OC, joining usual starters Stanford (6-foot) and Parker (6-foot-1).
Parker just missed a double-double, finishing with nine points and nine rebounds, while Holasek had six rebounds.
OC's guards also rebounded well. Hill, the senior point guard, had five rebounds to go with eight assists (just one off her career high) and 16 points. Freshman
Addy Clift, inserted into the starting lineup, scored nine of her 13 points in the second half and had six rebounds, while senior
Jasmine Hinton added five rebounds, six points and four steals off the bench.
"That was one of the things we thought about when we started that bigger lineup," Truesdell said. "We wanted to control the boards. It worked to our favor."
Two free throws by Parker put OC ahead 45-44 with 3:44 left in the third quarter and started a 14-2 run. OC led the Lions 57-46 with 8:46 left after a free throw by Dawkins and was up 67-54 with 5:49 left after a basket by Stanford, but that was the Lady Eagles' last basket for more than five minutes.
The Lions chipped away, catching fire from 3-point range. In the span of just over two minutes, UAFS hit three 3-pointers, with the last one, by Ashley Bean with 36.8 seconds left, pulling the Lions within 73-72.
Senior
Daisha Gonzaque hit two free throws for OC with 25.4 seconds left to make it 75-72. Parker blocked a close-in shot by Bean at the other end, and Bean then missed a 3-point attempt after the Lions snared the offensive board. After Bean's second miss, Hill rebounded, was fouled and sealed the win with two free throws with 11.9 seconds left.
OC led 23-19 after a wild first quarter in which they led by five points, then trailed by seven, rallied to lead by one, then fell behind five before closing the quarter on a 9-0 run. Stanford had 13 of her points in the opening quarter.
UAFS led 37-34 at halftime. Jasmine Brainard led the Lions with 19 points, going 5-of-9 from 3-point range. Bean added 17 points for UAFS.
Coach Truesdell on the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0NCRveIVT4&feature=em-upload_owner
