Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
Sophomore Sydney Hill blazed a trail at Oklahoma Christian University’s Homecoming, leading the Lady Eagles to a 108-60 victory for the opener against York University, followed shortly by a lopsided 79-60 victory over rival Southern Nazarene University.
“Any win you get over them is a good win, but if you can get it in double digits it’s a feather in your cap for sure,” Head Women’s Basketball Coach Stephanie Findley said. “I’m pleased with that, but I’m frustrated with it because I feel like we didn’t shoot good. We were shooting 25 percent at halftime, and a lot of those were in the paint.”
Coming off a successful 20-13 record, the Oklahoma Christian women’s basketball squad looked to keep their momentum, according to senior Krista Stevens.
“We just wanted to come out and run the tables and set a tone from the very beginning, because we wanted to make a stance,” Stevens said. “We want to give the audience something to watch for the first game of the year – I thought we did good, we came out with a lot of intensity.”
The Lady Eagles jumped to an early lead, as Hill and junior Kaitlyn Morris picked off 3-pointers while senior Roz Hamilton drove to the rim. The Panthers fought to close the nearly 10-point gap at one point, but junior Logan McKee’s seven-point retort put Oklahoma Christian in a commanding lead for the rest of the first.
Coming out with a 52-32 lead in the second half, the Lady Eagles sparked a 15-point run – led again by Hill with senior Andee Wayne – that further widened the gap and put the finishing touches on their triple-digit point total and commanding victory.
Four Lady Eagles posted double digits: Hill scored 16 points, freshman McKenzie Stanford made her debut with 11 points, Hamilton recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds while sophomore Aisha Martin put up another 10.
The Lady Eagles – particularly Wayne – looked to carry over the victory’s intensity to the game against rivals Southern Nazarene University on Tuesday.
“I think it gives us some more confidence against SNU, that we came out and killed York,” Wayne said. “We know that SNU’s good and they’re going to come out fired up against us, so we need to come out with our best foot forward and stomp on their confidence and take control.”
Hamilton echoed Wayne’s preemptive focus, noting the team’s newfound bench talent would come in handy.
“We’re looking to press the ball a lot and get it down the court pretty quick,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got a lot of secondary offenses looking to press, and we can do that because we’re a lot deeper this year.”
Hamilton started Oklahoma Christian off strong against the Crimson Storm as she drove inside to draw fouls, picking off shots inside the arc. Stevens contributed to the early lead with a long 3-pointer just a few minutes in.
Early in the game, it was apparent that Southern Nazarene could not find their shooting. Missing again and again from both inside and outside the arc, the Crimson Storm shot 22.9 percent from the field, finishing the first half 8-35.
The Lady Eagles snagged the rebounds and took advantage of the counters, leading by 10 points midway through the first.
With less than five minutes to go in the first, Southern Nazarene seemed to start a spark. Breaking double digits for the first time, the Crimson Storm fended off the Lady Eagles and made solid counters of their own, ending the first half behind 35-25.
“These kids need to learn how to play, getting hit and pushed a bit and finish even if they’re not giving you the fouls,” Findley said. “It’s good for us; we’re figuring it out, and even playing against such a shot blocker like Aminata [Fall], trying to figure out how to get around her and get that in the goal. So this was a good experience for us, especially this early.”
Oklahoma Christian came out swinging in the second as Hill put up a quick two points, followed with a steal by McKee. McKee fed it to Stevens, who narrowly missed another long three. Shortly after, Hamilton stepped in and sank one outside the arc to widen the gap 41-27, and Oklahoma Christian never looked back.
The Crimson Storm finally showed up in the earlier minutes of the second, staying around 10 points behind for the beginning of the half. It was not enough however, as the Lady Eagles pulled out the victory 79-60.
“It’s just a good all-around team win,” Findley said. “Roz stood out a little bit, but the rest of the supporting cast was good too. They responded to my chastising at halftime, and we came out with some good effort in the second half, and we’ve just got to give that effort every night. If we play hard, things will work out for us, and that’s kind of our motto: Keep going hard. If you’re going to mess up, mess up going hard.”
The Lady Eagles are set to return to action today, squaring-off against the Colorado School of Mines at 2 p.m. in Pueblo, Colo.
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