The Oklahoma Christian University women’s basketball team defended the perimeter and limited second-chance opportunities to secure a 76-67 win against Rogers State University on Thursday in Claremore, Oklahoma.
According to Women’s Basketball Head Coach Stephanie Findley, the Lady Eagles kept their lead by paying attention to their own execution of offense and defense.
“We focus a little on what the other team does, but are more concerned with what we do,” Findley said.
Sophomore Jordan Gorham said Coach Findley’s emphasis was on limiting shots, stopping drives and rebounding.
“Coach prepared us for every defensive and offensive situation we [will face] against Rogers State,” Gorham said before the game. “[This includes] what presses we would use against them and the press-breakers we would use to break theirs.”
Gorham had nine points and one assist in her 24 minutes of playing time.
McKenzie Stanford led the Lady Eagles with 25 points, with three assists and one steal, followed by Skyler Newberry who contributed 11 points with two assists, a steal and block.
Three Oklahoma Christian players, Kaitlyn Morris, Gorham and Jasmine Hinton scored nine points each. Aisha Martin put seven on the board for the Lady Eagles and Kylee Hicks, Daisha Gonzaque and Makenzie Brown each added two points.
With 56 seconds before halftime, junior Jasmine Hinton stole the ball and scored a layup on a fast break in the paint. The Lady Eagles ended the half leading 30-21.
With a promising lead going into the second half, the Lady Eagles continued a successful defensive performance.
According to Coach Findley, the win was due to a team effort.
“The whole team shared in the victory with balanced scoring, rebounding and great team defense,” Findley said. “We executed our zone offense well and shot free throws well down the stretch.”
Despite Oklahoma Christian’s execution, mistakes in the final minutes revealed areas for necessary fine-tuning.
“[We need to] limit bad fouls and blocking out,” Gorham said.
Gorham said focusing on one game at a time is the key to success for the remainder of the season for Oklahoma Christian.
“Our goal is the take the season game-by-game, not worrying about future games when we need to worry about the game we’re about to play,” Gorham said. “We’ll continue to improve offensively and defensively by working on our shots, getting offensive and defensive rebounds, blocking out, moving our feet and staying in front of our opponent with less reaching.”
The Lady Eagles will be back in action on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
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