OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 7, 2019) – Like the legendary Sisyphus, Oklahoma Christian kept pushing the boulder uphill Thursday against St. Edward's (Texas), but never could quite reach the summit of a comeback.

Turnovers dropped the Lady Eagles into a big early hole, forcing them to chase St. Edward's the entire game, and the Hilltoppers took advantage, pulling away late for an 81-72 win in the Eagles' Nest.

In the muddled middle of the Heartland Conference women's basketball race, OC (10-11, 3-5 Heartland) fell into seventh place. The good news is, OC is just two games behind second-place Newman (Kan.), but the Lady Eagles have just six games to make their move, starting Saturday against the sixth-place team, Rogers State.

St. Edward's (12-11, 4-5) completed a regular-season sweep of the Lady Eagles, meaning the Hilltoppers will own a potential tiebreaker for seeding purposes in the conference tournament.

St. Edward's successfully limited the 3-point opportunities for OC standout Addy Clift, who scored only 18 points and went 5 of 20 from the field, including 1 of 2 from 3-point range. The Hilltoppers outrebounded OC 12-10 in the critical fourth quarter and controlled the inside most of the way thanks to Isabel Hernandez, who scored 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting.

OC committed 18 turnovers, including four in its first five possessions as the Hilltoppers jumped to a lead they most of the game. OC shot 41.5 percent (27 of 65) from the field and 14 of 20 (70 percent) from the free-throw line. St. Edward's had a decisive edge in free throws, going 23 of 29 (79.3 percent).

"I am not coaching very well right now," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "I've got to figure it out. I can't get our chemistry going. I just think I'm not doing a very good job right now of putting us in position to make plays. I'm not teaching us defense well enough. We continue to give up 80 points a game and you're just not going to win very many games doing that.

"We're not shooting good enough and we're turning the ball over too much. We were giving them extra possessions by just going too fast and turning the ball over."

St. Edward's led 16-6 less than 5½ minutes into the game. OC pulled within 20-19 with 7:16 left in the second quarter on a short jumper by Carolyne Lawley, but the Hilltoppers again extended their lead to seven points and were ahead 38-33 at halftime.

OC's only lead came midway through the third quarter, when Megan Shelton's driving layup put the Lady Eagles up 46-45. Seventeen seconds later, Hernandez answered for St. Edward's and the Hilltoppers never trailed again.

The game was tied at 50-50 and 52-52, the latter after OC's Maddison Collyer hit a 16-foot jumper with 52 seconds left in the quarter, but a 3-pointer by Bailey Hill and two free throws by Christina Mason gave St. Edward's a 57-52 lead headed into the fourth.

St. Edward's built its lead to 13 points twice, the second time at 76-63 with 1:05 left. Three 3-pointers in the final minute – two by Katie Mayo and one by Clift – got OC within 78-72 with 25.8 seconds left, but the Lady Eagles weren't able to get another shot off.

Mayo finished with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Collyer had 11 points and six assists and Shelton had 10 points. OC outrebounded the Hilltoppers for the whole game, 41-36.

Lexi Cunningham scored 15 points for St. Edward's, while Sammie Dufek had 11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.