FORT SMITH, Ark. (Jan. 9, 2019) – It wasn't too hard to pinpoint the issue for Oklahoma Christian on Wednesday at Arkansas-Fort Smith.

UAFS outrebounded the Lady Eagles by a whopping 46-28 margin, with 18 of those on the offensive end, and with all of those extra opportunities, the Lions cruised to a 98-85 win in the Heartland Conference opener for both basketball teams at the Stubblefield Center.

UAFS (4-10, 1-0 Heartland) recorded its season high for points and matched season highs for 3-pointers (eight) and 3-point percentage (47.1). The Lions shot 52.1 percent from the field, their second-best shooting outing of the season, and had six players score in double figures, led by Daijah Brown with 17 points.

OC (7-7, 0-1) wasted strong performances from Addy Clift and Katie Mayo. Clift, the second-leading scorer in NCAA Division II, poured in 32 points to go with seven assists (tying her career high), a career-best five steals and six rebounds. Mayo had 26 points, five rebounds, three steals and five blocked shots, tying her career highs in the latter two categories.

"Anytime we get outrebounded that bad, we're going to lose," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "I was really disappointed in us letting them getting a shot off wherever they wanted to get a shot off. We just didn't put up any kind of defense. … We didn't put up any fight inside."

UAFS scored on a string of layups in the first half, and in the second half, forward Ellie Lehne took over, nailing a series of midrange baseline jumpers to hold off any OC attempts to rally.

"We had a long layoff, the longest we've had in a long time," Findley said. "I didn't do a good job getting them ready coming off that break."

The problems for OC started early, as the Lions' first two baskets came after offensive rebounds. They were part of an 8-2 run to being the game and UAFS led 26-14 after the first quarter. The Lions stretched their lead to 47-27 in the second quarter before Brennley Cloyd and Tyra Peck each hit a 3-pointer in the final 74 seconds for OC, pulling OC within 47-35 by halftime.

Two layups by Clift in six seconds – with a stolen inbounds pass in between – cut OC's deficit to 51-41 with 8:35 left in the third quarter, but UAFS answered with a 9-3 run and the Lady Eagles never recovered. The Lions led 71-55 by the end of the quarter and by as many as 25 in the fourth quarter before a late run by OC.

"I was pleased with the effort of the last group that was in there pressing," Findley said. "They didn't quit. They kept going and we finally knocked down a few shots."

For UAFS, Lehne scored 15 points, Anna Bonham and Tamera Gulley had 14 points each, Mariah Green scored 12 and Alexsis Brown added 11.

Clift, a senior guard from Kiowa, moved up two spots on both the OC and Heartland career scoring lists. On the OC list, she moved into sixth place past former teammate (and current graduate assistant coach) McKenzie Stanford (1,715 points from 2013-17) and OC Athletic Hall of Famer Sarah Reese (1,707 points from 2000-02). On the Heartland list, she passed Tess Bruffey of Lubbock Christian (Texas), who had 1,728 points from 2014-18, and Stanford.

With 1,732 points, Clift is 46 points behind the Heartland's current career scoring leader, Nia Torru of Incarnate Word (Texas), who had 1,778 points for 2006-10.

OC will be back on the Heartland road on Saturday, visiting St. Edward's (Texas) at 1 p.m.