COMMERCE, Texas (March 2, 2021) – Facing a 21-point second-half deficit, Oklahoma Christian's road warriors – so successful on opponents' courts throughout this basketball season – made one last push on Tuesday night against No. 20/10-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce.

OC knocked down seven 3-pointers in the final 13½ minutes and made the Lions sweat a bit, closing within eight points with enough time to still do more damage. But TAMUC hit its free throws down the stretch, allowing the Lions to hold on for a 77-63 win in a Lone Star Conference Championship tournament quarterfinal at The Field House.

"I am so proud of the effort they did make, to not give up and come back and get within eight," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "We just didn't get to the line as much as they did. That was the difference in the game, and the rebounds. We gave them too many second chances."

Seniors Maddison Collyer Ingraham (16 points, five assists) and Tyra Peck (15 points, three steals) led the Lady Eagles, who battled through numerous season-ending injuries that limited their number of available players and ability to practice all season long. Despite that adversity, OC (7-8) finished in the upper half of the LSC and qualified for this season's slimmed-down league tournament.

"If you had told me (before the season) everything that was going to happen injury-wise, that we would make the conference tournament – the odds were against us for that, but we did it," Findley said. "And then to play that second half as well as we did is a tribute to these seniors that I'm really proud of. They don't quit. They play hard, hard, hard. … They have left a legacy of that for the rest of this team."

OC rallied against TAMUC (12-2) despite having only nine players in uniform and receiving no points from its bench. Freshman Brooklin Bain provided promise for the future with her third straight double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds), raising her season total to eight. Sophomore center Emma Epperly battled early foul trouble but still finished with 10 points.

The Lady Eagles fell into an early hole due to foul trouble – a huge issue, given their limited roster – and missed shots. TAMUC led 7-0 after only 2½ minutes, but OC closed within 8-7. The Lions then had another 7-0 run and led 20-13 at the end of the first quarter, but which time Epperly had three fouls and Bain had two.

OC pulled within 20-18 on Peck's second 3-pointer of the game, with 7:59 left in the second quarter, but the Lions ended the first half on a 19-3 run and led 39-21 at halftime. When DesiRay Kernal scored with 6:40 left, TAMUC led 47-26 and it looked like the Lions would be able to name the final margin.

Not so fast.

The Lady Eagles scored the next nine points, then cut the margin to 11 at 51-40 after a 3-pointer by Bain with 2:04 left in the third quarter. The Lions pushed their lead back to 17, but OC hit five 3-pointers in less than five minutes and the last one, by Ingraham with 3:39 left, made it 67-59.

The Lions didn't blink, though, as Agang Tac, Juliana Louis and Dyani Robinson combined to go 8 of 8 from the free-throw line in the final 3:08 and held OC without a field goal after Epperly scored with 2:50 left.

Texas A&M-Commerce finished 23 of 31 from the free-throw line, compared to 7 of 10 for OC, a deficit the Lady Eagles ultimately couldn't overcome.

"When you get in foul trouble and they go to the line as much as they did, you're going to have a hard time, and we're such a thin team anyway," Findley said. "Foul trouble is just our worst nightmare and that's what happened.

"We got to hitting some threes. The girls relaxed a little in the second half. We talked about halftime about shooting the ball versus just trying to get a shot up, which is what I thought we were trying to do in the first half. They were speeding us up in the first half, but I thought we did a better job in the second half of shooting the ball."

Kernal finished with 10 points and 17 rebounds, helping the Lions post a 51-32 edge on the boards. Louis (15 points, 10 rebounds) also had a double-double and Robinson (17 points, eight assists) nearly had another. Chania Wright added 16 points for the Lions.

Ingraham finished her remarkable OC career with 487 assists, fourth-highest in program history and just one behind No. 3 (the legendary Jan Ross) on that list. Her 16 points lifted her final career total to 980, just outside the 1,000-point club she no doubt easily would have joined had not OC played essentially only half a season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She will lead the LSC in assists and minutes played for a second straight season.