Note: One of a series of stories that take a look back at some of the many titles won by Oklahoma Christian teams and individuals through the decades. Today's story is about the 1980 women's basketball team that won the Oklahoma Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Division II title.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 8, 2020) – In the infancy of collegiate women's basketball – less than a decade after Title IX became federal law – neither the NCAA nor the NAIA governed the sport.

An organization known as the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) sponsored what postseason opportunities existed for programs such as those at Oklahoma Christian, which first played during the 1977-78 season. OC fared reasonably well out of the gate, going 14-10 its first season and 18-12 its second, placing second and fourth, respectively, in the Oklahoma AIAW Division II state tournament those seasons.

OC took the next step in 1979-80. Thanks in good part to a stellar point guard, a pair of high-scoring juniors and a freshman sensation, the Lady Eagles were able to call themselves champions following the season, winning the OAIAW Division II title.

The 1979-80 team entered the season with only one senior, point guard Cheryl Walker of Kingfisher, and two juniors, center Beth Malone of Midwest City and guard Vicki McCann of Lindsay, who had transferred to OC from Oklahoma before her sophomore season. OC's coach, Max Dobson, was glad to have the three veterans who had developed into program leaders.

"Beth was tall and long, with good moves, good feet," recalled current OC coach Stephanie Findley, who (then known as Stephanie Stark) was a sophomore forward on the team. "She was tricky, with different release points – whatever it took to beat the defender – and a dominant inside rebounder. Vicki had an awesome step-through move that she would show to referees in slow motion before the game, so they wouldn't call traveling on her."

Walker endured four knee surgeries so she could finish her playing career, while Malone and McCann had combined to average nearly 39 points per game as sophomores. Dobson said of Walker at the time that, "I know of no other person who has shown this kind of competitive attitude and dedication to the game."

Three other returning letterwomen (all sophomores) were on the 1979-80 roster – center Lisa Petersik of Oklahoma City, guard Vicky Hite of Chandler and Stark (Findley) of Lexington, whom Dobson called an "excellent hustler." Another sophomore was guard Mary Clark of Edmond.

Among the freshmen on the team that season were forward Dianna Kochenower of Kingfisher, forward Janell Brooks of Midwest City, forward Terri Jennings of Midwest City, guard Tina Olmstead of Lindsay and forward Cindy Garrett of Newcastle. Dobson predicted great things, in particular, from Kochenower: "She plays a style of game that will excite all spectators!"

The Lady Eagles didn't start out particularly well, standing at 3-3 after six games. A win over Lubbock Christian (Texas) in Wichita Falls started a four-game winning streak for OC, which eventually won nine out of 10 games in that stretch to improve to 12-4.

Adversity hit with a pair of close losses in home games against Oklahoma Baptist (67-65 on Jan. 17) and two days later against powerful Northwestern Oklahoma State (76-74 in overtime). But OC rebounded to win three of its next four games, beating Cameron both at home and in Lawton during that stretch.

OC again lost consecutive games, at Oklahoma Baptist on Feb. 4 (69-43) and at Southeastern Oklahoma State on Feb. 7 (69-58). Again, OC bounced back and won three straight home games against Southwestern Oklahoma State, USAO and Central State (now Central Oklahoma) before dropping its regular-season finale against Phillips at home on Feb. 19.

Its 18-10 record earned OC a spot in the OAIAW state tournament for a third straight year, and as the top seed, Northwestern hosted. The tournament started Feb. 20 in Alva, which gave the Lady Eagles little time to travel or prepare, but they began reeling off wins.

On the 20th, they downed Southwestern 75-44. The next day, they avenged their two regular-season losses to Oklahoma Baptist, beating the Bison 77-63. The day after that, OC edged Langston 65-61, putting the Lady Eagles in the title game against the host squad on Feb. 23.

Unlike the game in the Eagles' Nest in January, there was no overtime drama as OC downed Northwestern 69-59 to win its fifth game in as many days. The OAIAW trophy they brought home now sits in the lobby of the Payne Athletic Center after hanging for many years in Dobson's office in that building.

"Looking back, we may have been a little deeper than everyone else, if you look at our roster, and that probably helped us in a tournament setting," Findley said. "We were deep and balanced. Dianna was a really good freshman, Lisa was coming off bench to back up Beth and was a good, strong, physical player. Tina was fast and could defend and handle the ball.

"Vicky Hite was a good athlete and was fast. Mary Clark was the same and could handle the ball. Cindy Garrett was an all-around player, could play two (shooting guard) through four (small forward) and was strong and physical. Everybody could play a bit and could play different positions. We ran a 2-2-1 press pretty often. It was coach Dobson's bread and butter so that depth was important."

Malone (16.4 points, 8.1 rebounds per game) led a balanced offensive attack along with McCann (12.9 ppg, 3.8 assists per game) and Kochenower (12.1 ppg, 8.4 rpg). Walker averaged 5.9 assists per game to go with an 8.2-point scoring average. As a team, OC shot a healthy 44.8 percent from the field, led by Kochenower (52 percent) and Malone (51 percent).

The Lady Eagles also limited opponents to just 60.6 points per game, the second-lowest total in program history.

The OAIAW state title qualified the Lady Eagles for the Southwest Region AIAW tournament in Durant. OC lost its opener to Arkansas Tech 64-46, but rebounded to beat Sam Houston State 80-68 before falling to Northwestern 70-62 in the fifth-place game. OC finished its season at 23-12, the first of what proved to be seven straight 20-win seasons for the Lady Eagles.

The 1979-80 team left quite the legacy, both at OC and elsewhere. Malone and Findley are in the OC Athletic Hall of Fame, with Findley about to enter her 36th season as the program's head coach, having rolled up more than 600 wins.

Malone still holds OC's single-game field-goal record of 18 – set in the program's first game ever, a loss to Langston in 1977 – and ranks No. 3 on the program's career scoring list. She's also OC's leading career rebounder with 1,173.

Brooks, now known as Janell Jones, also became a collegiate coach and became the head coach at five schools – Oklahoma City University (where she won four NAIA titles in five seasons), California-San Diego, Mercer, California State-Los Angeles and California State-Dominguez Hills. She has a 333-133 record as a head coach. She's now an assistant coach at NCAA Division I San Francisco.

Walker also went into coaching, but focused on the high school level, working with Oklahoma programs including Enid, Tulsa Union, Del City and Mustang.

Olmstead became a professor and now is known as Tina Winn. She's currently the chair of OC's Division of Education and Behavioral and Social Sciences.

The 1980 championship remains one of only a handful of postseason tournament titles won by OC. In Findley's first season as head coach, she guided the Lady Eagles to the 1986 NAIA District 9 title and into the NAIA quarterfinals. In 2013 and 2014, OC captured National Christian College Athletic Association Central Region titles while playing in Bartlesville and at OC, respectively.