Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 31, 2016) – Christmas vacation appears to have derailed Oklahoma Christian's considerable momentum.

For the second straight game since returning from the break, the Lady Eagles struggled to score, and the result was predictable, as they dropped a 65-56 decision on Saturday afternoon to St. Edward's (Texas) in an early showdown for the Heartland Conference women's basketball lead in the Eagles' Nest.

OC (7-8, 2-1 Heartland) – which had won four straight games and six of seven entering the break – shot just 31.4 percent from the field, hitting 16 of 51 shots and wasting a solid defensive effort against St. Edward's (7-5, 3-0), which went 3-of-19 from 3-point range.

McKenzie Stanford had 18 points and seven rebounds and Sarah Parker recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds, but OC turned the ball over 19 times and never got into a flow offensively for the second straight game. The Lady Eagles shot 36.1 percent in a loss at No. 19-ranked Central Oklahoma on Thursday.

"You're not going to beat anybody in our conference scoring 56 points," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "Over Christmas break, somehow we've forgotten our offense and we can't follow a game plan. We just didn't follow our game plan and we couldn't seem to remember anything we learned the first semester.

"We've got to get in the gym and get to work. I don't know if all of our shots have left us, our brains have left us or what, but we've got to find it.

OC's only leads came in the first quarter. The Hilltoppers never trailed after Abby Hopper started a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer with 2:21 left in the quarter that put St. Edward's up 11-8. St. Edward's led 25-21 at halftime, at which point no OC player had made more than one basket.

The Lady Eagles pulled even at 25-25 on a basket by Stanford with 8:38 left in the third quarter, but the Hilltoppers answered with another 7-0 run and gradually pulled away, stretching their lead to 15 points twice in the fourth quarter, the latter at 49-34 on a three-point play by point guard Shakera Barnes, who finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Down 14 with 3:47 left, OC rallied, using an 11-2 run – fueled by six free throws by Stanford – to pull within 57-52 on Megan Shelton's 3-pointer with 2:04 left. St. Edward's went 8-of-12 from the line in the final 1:40, leaving the door slightly ajar for the Lady Eagles, but a turnover and two missed 3-point attempts ended the comeback.

"We let (Barnes) get too much," Findley said. "You need to make other people beat you. We let (Khiana Clark) get too many rebounds. She's real physical and you've got to play strong against her."

Clark scored 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting and had four rebounds for St. Edward's, while Hopper added 11 points for the Hilltoppers. Kylee Hicks had five points, seven rebounds and five assists for OC.

"We just have lost a spark," Findley said. "We don't seem to have energy. We were playing so well. In a season you're going to have ebbs and flows and my teams have always seemed to build on things and get better as the year goes on. We were on that path, but somehow we've gotten off of it and we've got to find our way back on it. It's early. It's one game. But we've got to figure it out, that's for sure."

Stanford passed Vickie McCann (1978-81) and Misti Mitchell (1989-94) to move into 12th place on OC's career scoring list with 1,421 points. Stanford is 12 points shy of establishing herself as one of the top 10 scorers in the program's history.

OC will return to action next Thursday, hosting Texas A&M International.