Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 7, 2017) – Everything looked to be going Oklahoma Christian's way early in the fourth quarter against No. 21-ranked St. Mary's (Texas). Once down 16, the Lady Eagles had surged to a three-point lead and had all the momentum.
But a couple of defensive lapses opened the door for St. Mary's and the Rattlers took advantage, posting an 83-74 win on Saturday afternoon in the Eagles' Nest in an early season showdown of women's basketball teams fighting for second place in the Heartland Conference.
OC (8-9, 3-2 Heartland) fell a game behind St. Mary's (12-3, 4-1) in the league race. Both teams are chasing St. Edward's (Texas), which is 5-0 in league play and has beaten both OC and St. Mary's.
"We had trouble guarding the post, we had trouble guarding their 3-point shooters and we couldn't hit any shots," OC coach
Stephanie Findley said. "That's a recipe for disaster against a good team like this. I don't know how we were even in the game.
"St. Mary's came ready to play. They got beat by their big rival in their last game and they had motivation to take it at us, and we didn't respond."
OC's recent shooting woes continued as the Lady Eagles shot just 39.2 percent (29 of 74) from the field, including 16.7 percent (3 of 18) from 3-point range. OC wasn't able to take advantage of a similar poor shooting outing by the Rattlers, who shot 38 percent from the field but 40 percent (8 of 20) from 3-point range.
St. Mary's won the rebounding battle 50-46, thanks in good part to forward Kiara Etheridge, who had 18 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and three steals. LaBraile Fields (19 points, 4-of-5 3-point shooting) and Sierra Dixon (nine points, 2-of-5 3-point shooting) provided the outside spark for the Rattlers.
McKenzie Stanford recorded her fourth double-double of the season for OC with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while
Sarah Parker had 16 points and a career-high three blocked shots.
Taking advantage of OC's poor shooting, St. Mary's jumped to a 26-10 lead on a basket by Etheridge with 6:02 left in the second quarter. An 11-2 surge by OC to close the half pulled the Lady Eagles within 34-28 by halftime and
Kylee Hicks' put-back basket early in the second half cut the margin to four points.
St. Mary's stretched its lead to 52-41 with 3:20 left in the third quarter, but a three-point play by
Audrey Hayes and 3-pointers by Stanford and
Addy Clift keyed a 10-0 OC run that got the Lady Eagles within 52-51 before they surrendered four points in the final 4.4 seconds of the quarter.
OC opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run and led 59-56 after a basket by
Hannah Holasek with 8:17 left, prompting St. Mary's coach Jason Martens to call a timeout. The Rattlers responded by scoring the next eight points, including 3-pointers by Dixon and Fields, the latter putting St. Mary's ahead to stay at 62-59.
The Rattlers sealed the win by going 18-of-20 from the free-throw line in the final 4:28.
Hayes added 12 points for OC while Clift had 10. Arysia Porter had 16 points and seven rebounds for St. Mary's and Tyra Cormier added 12 points.
OC faces road games next week at Heartland foes Arkansas-Fort Smith on Thursday and Rogers State on Saturday.
