Lady Eagles drop two on the road, win two at home

Photo by: Will Gentry

 

After two difficult games, one against the Heartland Conference’s best, the Lady Eagles of Oklahoma Christian University made a comeback in the Nest Monday night to pull out a 75-42 victory.

The Lady Eagles faced the War Hawks of McMurry University Monday night in the Nest.

Oklahoma Christian took the first few points and continued to build a lead of 10, 20 and finally 33 points, ending Oklahoma Christian’s losing streak.

The first blow to the Lady Eagles this past week came on Thursday, Feb. 6, when they faced the University of Texas of the Permian Basin at the Falcon Dome.

The Eagles missed 48 of 64 shots, marking the lowest shooting percentage of the season for Oklahoma Christian.

“Besides shooting, our mental focus really wasn’t there for the game,” senior Roz Hamilton said. “We were playing good defense, and we were working well together, but our focus was just a little bit off. They were able to get some looks and rebounds that they wouldn’t have normally been able to get.”

Although shooting hindered the Lady Eagles from a victory, there were some achievements to celebrate.

Senior Roz Hamilton caught a season-high 16 rebounds and Stanford made 15 points.

“That game we just weren’t clicking,” freshman McKenzie Stanford said. “It wasn’t really one thing or one aspect.”

Stanford was the only team member to reach double-digits that game.

The true challenge, however, was facing Heartland Conference powerhouse Lubbock Christian University (Texas).

“We knew going in that they were going to be a good team,” Stanford said. “But any team can have an off day. Any team can be beat.”

Lubbock Christian entered the game against Oklahoma Christian with a 15-game winning streak under their belts.

Despite the strong efforts put forth by the Lady Eagles’ offense, the Lady Chaparrals were able to add another win onto their record.

“We didn’t seem to shoot the ball very well,” Head Coach of Women’s Basketball Stephanie Findley said. “We started off cold and didn’t play very well in the beginning. We kind of just let it snowball on us.”

Even though the Lady Eagles fought back during in the second half, the high-scoring game ended with LCU leading 108-79.

Despite these losses, Oklahoma Christian did not allow this to discourage them, apparent from the Lady Eagles starting Monday night off with strong rebounds, seizing a lead that would last the entire game.

“Our ball movement was right tonight,” Findley said after the game on Monday. “We shot well.”

Oklahoma Christian led 15-8 in the first half with 8:37 left.

Six of McMurry’s 8 points were claimed by the War Hawks’ freshman guard, Katy Boren.

She made two 3-pointers, which helped close the gap a little, but the Lady Eagles were up 20 points by halftime.

The 17-0 first-half run was most likely the deciding factor of the game.

“We were shooting well from the 3-point line and inside,” Stanford said.

By 17:36 in the second half, Oklahoma Christian was up 41-19 and still going strong.

It was 45-19 at 17:15, and a two-for-two free throw by Stanford brought the Lady Eagles up 22 points.

While there was still 12 minutes left on the clock, junior forward Adijatu Disu of the War Hawks committed an offensive charge – her third foul.

A couple of fouls on Oklahoma Christian’s part narrowed the score to 58-27, the Lady Eagles still leading by over half, at which point junior Skyler Newberry came off the bench to make an assist and catch two rebounds.

Although the Lady Eagles made some fouls, overall they played a clean game while scoring 43.9 percent from the field.

“The girls were trying to go straight up and not foul and I thought they did a good job of that,” Findley said.

Statistically McMurry was not as challenging an opponent as previous matchups (No. 10 in Heartland conference, 3-12).

This was no cause for the Lady Eagles to let up though, according to Findley.

“We still need to work on executing in our offense and defense,” Findley said. “Some of the specific things we need to work on is shooting better at the free-throw line … and for our post players to do what they’re supposed to.”

According to Findley, defense has been solid in recent games, especially against McMurry on Monday and the game at Abilene a few weeks ago.

“Our defense was doing a good job of coming in when they needed to,” Findley said.

She added that the defense did lack some aggression, however.

“We need to work on getting the guards to attack more,” Findley said. “Those are really the things we need to pinpoint. Get the guards to attack more, get the post players to attack more, and work on our free throws.”

Findley plans to work with players on aggressiveness in practice, but she also emphasized the progress her players have made in handling the pressures of collegiate level basketball.

“They’re learning; they’re learning to take their time,” Findley said. “When you’re not very experienced at post play at the college level, you get in a hurry and just want to shoot.”

Senior Andee Wayne was the leading scorer with 11 points, but the 75 points the Eagles posted Monday night were spread throughout all the team members.

“It was a team win,” Findley said. “You know what’s fun about this team is [that] nobody cares. They’re going to share the ball with each other.”

The Lady Eagles certainly shared the ball against Rogers State last night; Stevens blazed a trail as five Lady Eagles posted double digits on the scoreboard. Oklahoma Christian sealed the victory 86-71.