Women's basketball feeds off crowd enthusiasm in homecoming win

Freshman Hope Dawkins recorded 14 points on Saturday's win against York. — Freshman Hope Dawkins records 14 points in a win against York College on Nov. 15. *Photo by Roxie Gonzalez*

The Lady Eagles claimed victory during Oklahoma Christian University’s homecoming basketball game against Nebraska’s York College on Saturday.

In anticipation for the game, senior Makenzie Brown said the team was eager to show their fellow students, friends, family and visiting alumni how hard they worked in preseason.

“We are really just beyond ready to get out there and play against someone else,” Brown said. “We are also excited to perform in front of the homecoming crowd. It’s always so loud and everyone cheering for us really gets us going, they have no idea what difference that makes for us as players.”

Women’s Basketball Head Coach Stephanie Findley said that since the homecoming game is one of the first for the season, their preseason work emphasized on the Lady Eagles personally, not the competition.

“At the beginning of the season you focus on the systems, offensively and defensively, that you want to run for the whole season,” Findley said. “You don’t know much about your early opponents because no one has played yet, so you just try to focus on your team. As the season moves along the individual opponents become more of a focus.”

At the game’s start, the Lady Eagles brought energy to the court and maintained that energy as the minutes ticked, junior Jasmine Hinton said.

“I’m most proud of the way our posts performed today,” Hinton said. “They all did exceptional and stepped up to the plate when needed.”

With fans from across the nation cheering on both teams, Oklahoma Christian topped York’s Lady Panthers with a final score of 88-56.

Senior Skylar Newberry was the Lady Eagles’ main rebounder with 10 boards.

Sophomore McKenzie Stanford was the Lady Eagles’ top scorer for the night with 20 points.

According to Hinton, the preseason practices were some of the toughest she’d experienced in her basketball career, but they prepared the team well for the upcoming games.

After the game, she said she was satisfied with the team’s performance and looked forward to the next challenge.

“I think the game went really well,” Hinton said. “We still have things to work on, but overall it was a job well done as a team.”

The Lady Eagles continue their season with a game at the University of Central Oklahoma on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.