Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 5, 2017) – Texas A&M International suited up only six players on Thursday night, so it figured that the Dustdevils eventually would wear down against a deeper Oklahoma Christian squad, and that's pretty much what happened.
OC didn't exactly solve its recent shooting woes, but the Lady Eagles had more than enough firepower to rout TAMIU 80-39 in the Eagles' Nest, snapping a two-game losing skid.
OC (8-8, 3-1 Heartland Conference) remained a game behind surprising St. Edward's (Texas) in the league race after St. Edward's upset No. 21-ranked St. Mary's (Texas) to remain unbeaten in conference games. OC will host St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Eagles will do so after limiting TAMIU (1-13, 1-3) to the lowest point total by an OC opponent since Jan. 29, 2009, when the Lady Eagles beat St. Gregory's 62-27.
"You kind of have to be patient and keep forcing the tempo with them and being aggressive on offense, trying to get a few fouls here and there and try to wear them down," OC women's basketball coach
Stephanie Findley said. "I think that's what we did in the second half."
On the offensive end, forward
McKenzie Stanford scored 16 points to increase her career total to 1,437 points, moving the senior from Perkins into 10th place on OC's career scoring list, past Katy O'Steen (1426 from 2009-13) and Lisa Landrum (1433 from 1985-89). Stanford is the first player to crack the program's career top-10 list since Katie Fariss did so in 2007.
"That's good for her and I'm glad to see that," Findley said. "I'm pleased for her because she's a very hard worker and it's paid off for her."
Four players scored in double figures for OC, which shot 41.2 percent (28 of 68) from the field. In addition to Stanford, sophomore guard
Addy Clift recorded her first career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
Sarah Parker scored 12 points while
Emma Gade started and scored 11 to go with seven rebounds.
OC's bench players also contributed, with sophomore point guard
Shae Scheffler finishing with a career-high six assists, including a couple to junior forward
Hope Dawkins, who scored eight points. Freshman guard
Megan Shelton added five points and seven rebounds.
Stanford scored nine points in the first quarter to stake OC to an 18-13 lead. The Dustdevils pulled within 18-17 but the Lady Eagles stretched their advantage out after that. A 3-pointer by Clift near the end of the first half gave OC a 33-23 lead and TAMIU came no closer than nine points in the second half.
OC limited TAMIU to just 16 second-half points – eight in each quarter. The Dustdevils shot 23.9 percent from the field and committed 20 turnovers. Two players reached double figures in scoring for TAMIU – Joanna Perez (12 points) and Hannah Beede (10 points).
OC and St. Mary's have battled evenly since OC joined the Heartland with the 2012-13 season, splitting a pair of regular-season matchups each of the past four seasons before St. Mary's won a closely contested Heartland tournament game last March.
"We are going to have to come out and shoot the ball a lot better than we did tonight," Findley said. "We kind of got it going in the second half, but we need to get it going in the first quarter of that game. If we want to make a run at them, we're going to have to shoot the ball well."
Stephanie Findley discusses the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzO36ZwLVps&feature=youtu.be
