Lady Eagles record loss against crosstown rival

Junior Sydney Hill led the Lady Eagles at UCO with 19 points on Tuesday, Nov. 18. — Junior Sydney Hill leads the Lady Eagles with 19 points at UCO on Nov. 18. *Photo by Roxie Gonzalez*

Oklahoma Christian University women’s basketball team fell to crosstown rival University of Central Oklahoma in its first road game of the season Tuesday.

Before the game, sophomore McKenzie Stanford said she knew UCO would prove to be more challenging than York College’s Lady Panthers.

“They’re probably going to have some post players inside and we’re going to have bigger girls [we will] have to defend,” Stanford said. “They’ll probably handle the ball a little better and we’ll have to go about that way.”

At the buzzer, the scoreboard showed a 78-67 UCO win, and Women’s Basketball Head Coach Stephanie Findley said she knew why.

“I thought we played well, but we didn’t shoot well,” Findley said. “We didn’t rotate to the good shooters quick enough.”

At halftime the Lady Bronchos led Oklahoma Christian by five at 35-30 and continued to knock down 3-point shots, successfully shooting 50 percent from behind the arch.

The Lady Eagles repaired their shot accuracy in the second half though, making 44.8 percent in the second half. Oklahoma Christian pulled down 38 rebounds and UCO recorded 34.

Sydney Hill led the team with 19 points, also providing five rebounds and five assists. Logan McKee and Stanford contributed 16 and 15 points, respectively.

The downfall for Oklahoma Christian was the 21 turnovers and the team’s 25 percent 3-point performance.

According to Findley, the fight the team showed later in the game was encouraging.

“We out rebounded them for the game, which was a point of emphasis for us,” Findley said. “I’m proud of the way we hung in and fought back after going down by 14 when they were hitting 3’s from everywhere.”

Junior Daisha Gonzaque said she was pleased with the Lady Eagle’s refusal to give up despite a large deficit.

“I like that we played together and fought to the end, that’s something I’m really proud of,” Gonzaque said. “I think there are some things we can improve on of course, but that will come as we play more games.”

The Lady Eagles will host Texas Wesleyan on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma on Saturday at 1 p.m.