OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 14, 2019) – Oklahoma Christian had its issues with turnovers on Saturday afternoon against Arkansas-Fort Smith, but the Lady Eagles kept at it, making up for their miscues with strong rebounding and solid 3-point shooting.

That proved to be a winning formula, as the Lady Eagles controlled the game most of the way en route to a 74-63 win in the Eagles' Nest, giving OC its third win in as many Lone Star Conference basketball games this season.

OC (3-4, 3-0 LSC) is one of only three 3-0 teams in the Lone Star, along with No. 1-ranked Lubbock Christian (Texas) and No. 7 Texas A&M-Commerce. The win over UAFS (4-5, 1-2) carried added importance since UAFS is one of five divisional foes for the Lady Eagles in the LSC's three-division setup.

"We're glad that we were able to defend the home court so far, and now we're going to have to start going on the road, but we got those first three at home and we won them, so it's a good start for us," OC coach Stephanie Findley said.

Despite committing 26 turnovers, OC stayed in control for most of the game, except for a brief stretch at the start and longer stretches at the end of the second quarter and start of the third quarter. OC shot only 39 percent from the field (23 of 59) but went 9 of 24 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range, compared to 2 of 12 (26.7 percent) for the Lions. OC also outrebounded UAFS 46-44.

"We had some early foul trouble in the post – in the first half, I think I played all my post players because they were all coming up with two fouls," Findley said. "We were fouling too much and putting them on the line and letting them continue runs, instead of pulling down rebounds and coming down and hitting our own shots. But we played through those rough stretches."

UAFS jumped to a 5-0 lead but OC responded with 12 straight points and led 17-9 after the first quarter. The Lady Eagles led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter, but a 12-4 run by the Lions pulled UAFS within 33-29 by halftime.

The Lions scored the first 11 points of the second half and took a 40-33 lead on a 12-foot jumper by Alexsis Brown with 7:07 left in the third quarter. But after that, OC regained control with a 20-4 run to close the quarter, highlighted by 3-pointers from Maddison Collyer, Kendra Levings and Katie Mayo, and led 53-44 entering the fourth quarter.

Three-pointers by Connor Atkinson and Levings pushed OC's lead to 61-49 with 5:35 left and the Lions came no closer than six points the rest of the way. The Lady Eagles dramatically cut their turnover total in the second half, committing only eight after having 18 in the first half.

"We knew that they were going to pressure," Findley said. "We turned the ball over a lot out at Southwestern (in a loss on Dec. 5), especially at the end of the game and the first half here, we kind of carried that over and really turned the ball over. But the second half we were more deliberate with what we wanted to run and we were getting organized a little more and not letting them run wild as much.

"Most of those (3-pointers) were open shots, where we penetrated and drew the defense to us and pitched it out. They just had to relax … we just did a better job of calming down on some of those (shots) at the right time and knocking them down."

Collyer went 11 of 13 from the free-throw line and had 18 points to go with six assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Inside, Mayo added 11 points and seven rebounds while senior center Carolyne Lawley had 10 points and six rebounds. Levings went 3 of 7 from 3-point range en route to a 12-point performance.

Post player Mar'Shalia Lollie had 11 points, 13 rebounds and six steals for UAFS, while forward Tamera Gulley had eight points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots and Leiloni Culley added 10 points.

OC will play its first LSC road games next week, visiting No. 19-ranked West Texas A&M on Thursday and regionally ranked Eastern New Mexico on Saturday. The Lady Eagles' next home game will be Jan. 9 against Tarleton State (Texas).

Stephanie Findley discusses the game: https://youtu.be/kcq6eqC4cTg

Game highlights: https://youtu.be/uFkzkRFp7j4