Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 9, 2017) – Given a chance to make her first career start, Oklahoma Christian freshman Delyssa Miller made the most of her opportunity on Saturday afternoon against Southern Nazarene.

Miller, a forward from Arlington, Texas, poured in 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds and went 3 of 3 from 3-point range as the Lady Eagles pulled away late for a 77-63 win over the Crimson Storm in the Eagles' Nest.

OC now is 5-2 vs. Southern Nazarene in the NCAA Division II era for both programs. The win over OC's biggest rival snapped a four-game losing streak and hopefully will give the Lady Eagles some momentum heading into a challenging stretch, OC coach Stephanie Findley said.

"We just wanted to get ourselves on good footing and understand that we're still a good team," Findley said. "We've just had a tough go of it. I was glad to see us execute down the stretch, which we haven't been doing. That helped us out."

With senior Hope Dawkins sidelined by injury, Findley has been playing her other inside players more, looking for one who not only can score, but will aggressively rebound and play within the team's offense. Miller did all of those on Saturday for OC (2-8), going 9 of 12 from the field and consistently hitting shots that kept SNU (3-4) at bay.

"I think she took the challenge of me putting her in the starting position," Findley said. "She played like she would like to stay there. We've been rotating around and looking at different lineups. She stepped in today and I felt good about her defensively. I wanted her to add to our rebounding, which she did."

OC jumped to a quick 14-4 lead over the Crimson Storm, but SNU rallied to briefly take the lead before settling for a 35-35 draw at halftime.

SNU took its biggest lead at 50-46 on a basket by Alexus Jones with 2:53 left in the third quarter, a 10-0 run by the Lady Eagles, highlighted by 3-pointers from Addy Clift and Maddison Collyer, put OC up 56-50 early in the fourth quarter.

SNU managed only four fourth-quarter baskets (in 20 attempts). Two free throws by Jones pulled the Crimson Storm within 60-58 with 6:09 left, but Miller hit a 3-pointer, then two free throws and Audrey Hayes followed with another 3-pointer to extend OC's lead to 68-58 with 4:07 left.

OC went 9 of 10 from the free-throw line in the final 1:53 to seal the win. The Lady Eagles hit 24 of 29 free-throw attempts (82.8 percent), while SNU was 9 of 13 (69.2 percent). SNU shot 29.1 percent from the field, OC 37.9 percent.

"In some of our early games, we did not shoot free throws well, or we'd have won (some of them)," Findley said. "We're learning. We're getting more confident as we step to the line, understanding that we've got to make them count."

Clift scored 14 points for OC, while Collyer had 13 points and six assists and Hayes had seven points to go with a team-high nine rebounds.

Sidney Carolina led SNU with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Irene Perez scored 13 points.

OC will be off until next Friday, when the Lady Eagles will visit No. 14-ranked Southwestern Oklahoma State. They then will fly to Washington to take on Seattle Pacific (Wash.) and St. Martin's (Wash.) in a classic on Dec. 18-19.

Stephanie Findley discusses the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PJ0ds9oVt4&feature=youtu.be