ARKADELPHIA, Arkansas – Oklahoma Baptist got a balanced scoring attack and avenged its first-ever Great American Conference loss with a 66-60 win at Henderson State Saturday.
Cameerah Graves had 12 points, Kiara Moore and McKenzie Cooper added 11 each and Arielle Cooper scored 10 points and reeled in 13 rebounds.
The Reddies overcame a double-figure deficit to knock off the Lady Bison in the Noble Complex last November.
"We struggled early in the season, but we have learned a lot on the way about what we need to do and how we need to play in this league," said OBU Coach Casi Bays.
OBU owned a 14-9 first-quarter lead in which Arielle Cooper claimed four of her five offensive rebounds.
"As well as we played offensively in the first quarter, we missed a lot of shot on the blocks," said OBU Bays.
OBU also defended well, holding the Reddies to 7 of 28 three-point shooting and keeping Dulincia Keener 12 points below her season 18-point scoring average.
The second quarter had four lead changes and ended with the Lady Bison leading 28-25 at the half.
OBU expanded the lead to 41-30 with Moore draining a three-pointer with 6:04 left in the third quarter. The Reddies cut into the lead while the Lady Bison went 0-4 their next four trips, making as 43-40 game with 3:15 left in the third quarter.
A three-pointer by Kiara Moore and two baskets down low by Katy Custer pushed the lead back out to 50-40 with 1:55 left in the third quarter. OBU led by that margin heading into the fourth quarter.
Graves made it a 13-point lead, but OBU missed its next seven field goal attempts and the Reddies trimmed the OBU lead to 54-46 with 5:09 remaining in the game.
Lexie Williams ended a three-minute scoring drought with a three-pointer to make it 57-46 with 3:26 to play. McKenzie Cooper helped put the game out of reach with seven points in the final two minutes.
"That three-pointer by Lexie was a huge moment and it swung the momentum back our way," Bays said. "McKenzie stepped up on the blocks late and made three big shots."
With the first sweep of a GAC road set this season, the Lady Bison improved to 9-10 on the season and 7-6 in the league.
The Lady Bison return home to take on Arkansas Tech in the Noble Complex at 5:30 p.m., Thursday.
