OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 5, 2022) – For the second time in three days, Oklahoma Christian threw a major scare into one of the Lone Star Conference's top basketball teams on Saturday afternoon in the Eagles' Nest.
No. 4/10-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce and the Lady Eagles entered the fourth quarter tied, but the Lions used an 11-3 run to open the quarter to create some distance and held on for a 69-58 win over OC. The loss completed a week in which the Lady Eagles had to face the South Central Region's No. 3-, No. 5- and No. 1-ranked teams.
TAMUC (18-2, 7-2 LSC) outrebounded OC by a 61-27 count, with the Lions' 27 offensive rebounds allowing them 67 shots, eight more than OC, and helping them offset their 26 turnovers. Asiyah Smith scored 16 points for TAMUC while Juliana Louis grabbed 14 rebounds to go with eight points.
Freshman guard
Ashanti Day continued her recent surge for OC (0-17, 0-8), scoring 17 points, while
Brooklin Bain had 14 points and seven assist. Each had three steals, as did
Kate Bradley (10 points), while
Kendall Blackburn had four steals for OC.
OC jumped to a quick 7-0 lead and was up by as many as 10 points early in the second quarter. TAMUC rallied to briefly go ahead but Day's bucket at the halftime buzzer gave OC a 39-35 advantage.
TAMUC edged ahead 50-46 with 2:55 left in the third quarter, but the Lady Eagles held the Lions scoreless the rest of the quarter and a basket by Bain and two free throws by
Kendra Levings forged a 50-50 tie.
Dyani Robinson ended a long scoreless stretch for TAMUC with a jumper with 8:33 left and Smith's 3-pointer a minute later put the Lions up 55-50. That was TAMUC's only made shot from behind the arc in 18 attempts.
Blackburn brought OC within 55-53 with a 3-pointer with 7:14 left, but the Lady Eagles had three of their 18 turnovers over the next minute and a half and TAMUC took advantage, building a 61-53 lead on Jordyn Beaty's layup with 5:36 left.
OC came no closer than five points the rest of the way. The game against the Lions figures to be the last for OC for the foreseeable future, as TAMUC is moving into the Division I Southland Conference for the 2022-23 season.
The Lady Eagles will have three games again next week, all on the road. OC will visit Eastern New Mexico (8-9) on Monday, St. Mary's (Texas) (2-18) on Thursday and St. Edward's (Texas) (11-11) on Saturday.
