OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 9, 2020) – Facing its fourth nationally or regionally ranked opponent in its last five basketball games, Oklahoma Christian did much right on Thursday against Tarleton State (Texas), shooting a decent percentage, outrebounding the Texans and leading for 32 minutes.

But the Lady Eagles also struggled with turnovers, committing 26, and Tarleton State eventually took advantage of all those extra opportunities, edging ahead late and hanging on to beat OC 58-57 in a tense game in the Eagles' Nest.

OC (3-9, 3-5 Lone Star Conference) trailed by five points in the final minute before Megan Shelton hit a 3-pointer with 16.1 seconds left to pull the Lady Eagles within 57-55. Kandyn Faurie split a pair of free throws for Tarleton State (10-4, 4-4) with 12.2 seconds left, giving OC an opening.

After a timeout, Kendall Blackburn had two good looks from 3-point range but both rimmed out. Shelton grabbed the second rebound and passed to Maddison Collyer, who hit a layup as time expired, leaving OC a point short.

The game concluded a brutal stretch of OC's schedule, which included games against nationally ranked West Texas A&M and regionally ranked foes Eastern New Mexico, St. Edward's (Texas) and Tarleton State, all but one of them on the road. Tarleton State was No. 9 in this week's Division II Sports Information Directors Association South Central Region poll.

"You've just got to take care of the ball," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "We're trying to go too fast and a lot of times, some of our long passes don't have enough air under them. We're throwing a bullet and it's going out of bounds when we've got post players out running ahead. You could get a layup if you make a good pass. We've just got to keep practicing those passes, I guess."

An 11-0 run by the Lady Eagles near the end of the first half gave OC a 28-16 lead and they still were up 28-19 at halftime, despite 15 turnovers to that point.

But the Texans, who hit just 7 of 31 shots in the first half, warmed up in the second half, going 12 of 25 from the field. They closed the gap to 39-38 entering the fourth quarter, then took their first lead with 6:24 left on a basket by Marissa Escamilla. A driving layup by Carolyne Lawley regained the lead for OC, but Callie Boyles scored with 5:44 left to put Tarleton State ahead 47-46 and the Texans never trailed after that, although OC remained within striking distance.

Collyer led OC with 14 points and five assists while Shelton had 12 points, six assists and five rebounds. Katie Mayo just missed a double-double for OC with 10 points and nine rebounds, helping her team post a 36-28 edge on the boards. The Lady Eagles shot 47.8 percent (22 of 46) from the field, but also missed a handful of layups that proved costly, Findley said.

Kylie Collins went 4 of 8 from 3-point range and scored 15 points for the Texans, while Mackenzie Halley had 14 points and Faurie added 13.

"They were missing shots early, but (Collins) got hot, then (Faurie) got hot and that's going to hurt your zone (defense) when that happens," Findley said.

It likely will be the only time OC and Tarleton State will face each other as conference foes, as Tarleton State has announced plans to move into NCAA Division I next season.

OC will host Texas Woman's at 2 p.m. on Saturday in another LSC game.