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Lady Eagles fall in first Heartland Conference semifinal appearance

After finishing fifth in the Heartland Conference standings, the Oklahoma Christian University women’s basketball team played fourth seed Newman University March 2 in Tulsa, OK in the first round of the Heartland Conference tournament.

The 2018 battle against the fourth-seeded team marked the third season in a row Oklahoma Christian placed fifth in the conference.

In the last two years, the Lady Eagles lost in the postseason, but this year ended differently.

Oklahoma Christian recorded their first Division II postseason win against Newman, 83-72.

Freshman Maddison Collyer began the scoring for the Lady Eagles with a put-back layup in the first minute of play. Then, junior Addy Clift drained her first three pointer of the game at the 8:48 minute.

Oklahoma Christian fell behind for only 20 seconds in the first quarter. Then, they led for the rest of the game.

Clift scored 32 points, making her total over the previous four games 135 points. She increased her average points per game to 21.6, which is number one in the Heartland Conference and in the top 10 in Division II.

Freshman Katie Mayo added 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Before the tournament, Mayo and Clift were honored on the All-Conference teams. Clift was voted on the five-woman, first-team list for first time in her collegiate career, while Mayo made the honorable mention team.

Freshman Delyssa Miller recorded 11 points and 14 rebounds, her first double-double of her collegiate career.

After the win, the Lady Eagles advanced to the semi-final game first-seeded Lubbock Christian and lost, 61-80, Mar. 3.

Lubbock Christian scored within the first 20 seconds of the game on a layup by senior Tess Bruffey.

Clift scored 25 points in the loss, going only 1-of-6 from behind the three-point line. She finished the season with 1,365 points to move to number 17 on the Oklahoma Christian’s all-time scoring list.

Senior Audrey Hayes added 10 points.

In the second quarter, Lubbock Christian held the Lady Eagles to only six points, and the Chaparrals led, 38-22, going into halftime. The Chaparrals biggest lead came with 2:18 left in the third quarter and Oklahoma Christian remained behind the remainder of the game.

Clift was named to the All-Tournament team after her 57-point performance in the Heartland Conference tournament.

The Lady Eagles closed their season 10-18 and graduated two seniors from the current squad, Hayes and senior Hope Dawkins.

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