Photo by: Will Gentry
A strong defense and aggressive offense led the Lady Eagles over Oklahoma Panhandle State University last Thursday night. Despite close scores throughout the game, a high energy level from the home crowd fueled Oklahoma Christian University past the Aggies.
The offensive and defensive playmaking would prove key, especially when handling an unexpectedly tough Aggies squad.
“I was a little surprised at Oklahoma Panhandle State because they were a better team than last year,” Head Coach Stephanie Findley said. “I thought they did a very good job. We had to play hard with them.”
Findley noted the Lady Eagles took away significant changes for future games.
“Through the effort of the players we won this game, but we worked a little bit harder to defeat the opponent,” Findley said. “We shot the ball better than we have been, and players had a big improvement from this game.”
Most players tend to want to have a perfect game, but errors cannot be avoided all the time.
“We had some mistakes in this game, but our whole team played very well,” senior Andee Wayne said. “I was sure that we should win because we were ready to play and go. In this game, everyone shot the ball awesome.”
Before the game, Findley focused on steeling the team’s nerves and focusing their efforts on staying sharp.
“I just try to remind them, ‘Do not be nervous,’” Findley said. “Everyone prepared well for this game, and they followed the game plan.”
But some players’ nerves seem to never get the better of them; sophomore Emma Gade looked forward to the game and anticipated a win.
“I was confident and excited about this game because we played the game at home,” Gade said. “I think everyone is around me, and teammates help each other. This can make me comfortable and happy. Sometimes I feel a little nervous, but more excited than nervous because I am ready to go into this game.”
According to the players, it’s easy to stay relaxed going into a game knowing they are not fighting alone.
“For this game I am not really nervous,” junior Logan McKee said. “I used to get nervous in high school, but now I have fun with games. If I feel nervous, I will talk with a girl to keep relaxing.”
In the first half the Lady Eagles were outscored by the Aggies, but they followed up in the second half by building the attack on Panhandle State across all fronts.
“The last 10 minutes we did very well,” Findley said. “As the game went on, we did better and better, and players followed the game pretty well.”
According to Wayne, the team has to stay persistent even through exhaustion.
“Sometimes we got tired, but we keep running,” Wayne said. “Our team got really good scores because we ran to back on the other side really fast, and we could get opportunities to shoot the basket. As a team, the teamwork is important, and we played together well. Eventually, we went back to defeat them.”
Every Oklahoma Christian player who stepped on the court put points up on the board for the Lady Eagles.
“Each girl got more than five points,” Findley said. “One girl was seven points, and another girl was six points. They were pretty close.”
The success of offense depends on a good sense of the ball and tactic cooperation of the players. Good teamwork between the players is not easy to accomplish; the team spends a lot of time practicing.
“We worked very well in this game,” McKee said. “We struggled some part in this game, but we encouraged each other. We passed the ball to teammates quickly and then shot it.”
The Lady Eagles returned to the court last Saturday to face Newman. Despite trailing the Jets for the majority of the game, the team pulled ahead with 2:04 left in the fourth quarter, adding to their undefeated record against Newman, now 6-0.
Freshman center McKenzie Stanford had another high scoring game, putting up 19 points for the Lady Eagles, including six points during the scoring run that put Oklahoma Christian over Newman.
The women played their third consecutive home game Thursday night against the Texas A&M International (TAMIU) Dustdevils.
An 81-73 victory over the second place team in the Heartland Conference moved the Lady Eagles above the .500 line for the first time this season.
Senior Roz Hamilton went 7 for 10 in the game for a team-high 19 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Sophomore Sydney Hill trailed close behind with 17 points and seven assists.
The Lady Eagles take on the St. Mary’s Lady Rattlers on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Nest. Follow the game’s score live on Twitter at @OCTalon.
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