Box Score FORT SMITH, Ark. (Feb. 20, 2016) – The effort certainly was there for Oklahoma Christian on Saturday afternoon against Arkansas-Fort Smith, even if the result wasn't what the Lady Eagles had hoped for.
Sydney Franklin hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift UAFS past OC 66-63 at the Stubblefield Center in a key game between teams jockeying for position in the Heartland Conference women's basketball standings.
With one week to go in the regular season, OC is 12-14 overall and 9-7 in league play, in fifth place. Arkansas-Fort Smith (18-8, 11-6) is in third, a half-game behind Texas A&M International and a half-game ahead of St. Mary's (Texas). Lurking a game behind OC is St. Edward's (Texas), which will visit the Eagles' Nest next Thursday.
Saturday's game was tight throughout, with neither team leading by more than seven points. OC's biggest lead came with 9:06 left, when
Sydney Hill hit two free throws to put the Lady Eagles up 52-47.
The Lions roared back and led 61-56 with 3:06 left after Blandine N'Goran hit 1-of-2 free throws. OC answered with a 7-0 run and went up 63-61 on a 3-pointer by
Sarah Parker with 1:03 left.
Candice Followwell's layup with 33 seconds left tied the game for UAFS. Parker – who led OC with 16 points – missed a 3-point shot for OC with 19 seconds left and the Lions rebounded. After a timeout, they got the ball to Franklin, who hit the winning shot.
"It was a tough way to lose, but we feel good about the way we played," OC coach
Stephanie Findley said. "It was very physical and we didn't back down."
One key number for UAFS was its 20 offensive rebounds, which allowed the Lions to outrebound OC 45-35 and helped offset the Lions' 32.8-percent shooting. The Lady Eagles shot 38.9 percent from the field.
McKenzie Stanford added 15 points for OC and ended the game with 1,129 career points, moving her into 24th place on the Lady Eagles' career scoring list, past both Nichole Sanders (1128 from 1991-1995) and her current teammate, Hill, who has 1,121 career points.
Followwell had 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists for UAFS, while Franklin scored 11 points.
