OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 6, 2018) – After a lopsided loss at Southwestern Oklahoma State last month, and a frustrating defeat against an NAIA foe on Tuesday, Oklahoma Christian seemed determined to acquit itself better on Thursday against Southwestern.

That the Lady Eagles did, and then some. Led by the ever-amazing Addy Clift, OC rallied from an early 16-point deficit to take the lead against a team receiving votes in one of the NCAA Division II national polls, but Southwestern made the critical plays down the stretch to hang on for an 81-76 win before a raucous crowd inside the Eagles' Nest.

"We got beat pretty bad at Southwestern over Thanksgiving and with that in the back of your mind, you want to come out and really fight, but you're not quite sure if you can hang with them," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "We dug ourselves a big hole in the beginning … but we made some adjustments and settled down a little bit and we were able to dig out of the hole. The girls fought hard. They followed the game plan on the defensive end and I really thought we played really well."

Clift, who had struggled through a 4-of-22 shooting outing in a 98-73 loss at Southwestern on Nov. 24, went 13 of 23 against the Bulldogs on Thursday, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range, while scoring 34 points. She added eight rebounds, five assists and three steals in her best all-around performance of the season.

Along the way, she moved up a spot on both the OC and Heartland Conference career scoring lists. With 1,605 points, Clift passed Katie Fariss (1,596 points from 2003-07) for eighth place on the OC list. On the Heartland list, Clift rose to sixth, passing Morgan Pullins of St. Mary's (Texas), who had 1,599 points from 2011-15.

"She was determined tonight – you could tell," Findley said. "She's been struggling a little bit. We all have. We've been in a slump the last couple of weeks. You don't usually hit those this early (in the season). … It was really good to see her kind of bust out of that. She was determined. She was motivated and she wasn't going to back down at all."

In the early going, Southwestern (7-1) used its length to give the Lady Eagles fits as they tried to advance the ball upcourt. OC (5-5) had seven first-quarter turnovers while falling behind 26-10. But Findley changed tactics, opting to have her 6-foot-2 center, Carolyne Lawley, bring the ball upcourt against the Southwestern press. The strategy seemed to throw off the Bulldogs.

In addition to her surprise ball-handling duties, Lawley was a behemoth inside for OC, posting her first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. That helped the Lady Eagles post a 50-44 edge in rebounding.

"She did a good job of being a calming factor, too, by having the confidence to take it," Findley said. "She did a great job. She has experience. She's an older player and we don't have a lot of those with a lot of experience. She showed that tonight."

The second quarter proved to be a complete role reversal, with OC steadily cutting into the Southwestern lead, narrowing it to one point on two occasions before the Bulldogs escaped with a 42-39 halftime lead. But OC kept coming after halftime and took its first lead at 43-42 on a 3-pointer by Maddison Collyer at the 8:45 mark.

That was the first of what proved to be 12 lead changes in the second half. Every time it looked like one team would gain some separation, the other responded, with neither squad leading by more than six points the entire half.

Clift scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, even as the Bulldogs focused their defensive efforts to stop her. She gave OC the lead on three occasions, the last time on a 12-foot jumper with 2:40 left that made it 72-71.

Tyra Aska answered with a basket 11 seconds later for Southwestern, and after two subsequent empty OC possessions, Hailey Tucker – an All-America guard who had just one point in the second half to that point – hit two free throws with 1:13 left to give the Bulldogs a 75-72 advantage.

Tyra Peck missed two free throws for OC with 48.1 seconds left and Taylor Hedrick made two for Southwestern with 22.1 seconds left. Hayden Priddy sealed the win for Southwestern, going 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final 15.3 seconds.

Priddy led a balanced Southwestern attack with 17 points. Tucker finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Aska had 13 points, Bethany Franks had 10 points and nine rebounds and Maddie Sperle added 10 points. The Bulldogs shot just 61.8 percent from the line (21 of 34) but made them when it counted.

The Lady Eagles will be off until Dec. 14, when they will visit local rival Southern Nazarene. OC will host Kansas Christian the next day.

Stephanie Findley discusses the game: https://youtu.be/n_IWHWUihG0