SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist got a season-high 36 points from
Victoria Blankenship and held off Arkansas Monticello down the stretch to emerge with a 75-70 women's basketball victory. The win evened OBU's record at 9-9 overall and 5-7 in the Great American Conference. OBU is alone in seventh place, one full game ahead of Arkansas Tech and Arkansas Monticello
 Blankenship became the third player in the GAC to score 36 points this year, tying the marks set earlier by Southeastern Oklahoma's Katie Webb and Southwestern Oklahoma's Tyra Aska. Blankenship made 12-of-19 from the floor and was 12-of-14 from free throw line. She finished with 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the year.
OBU also had double-figure scoring by
Katy Custer who scored 13 points, nine of which came by three three-pointers. Custer moved her career total to 999 points.
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The Lady Bison led 37-30 at the half and built their margin to 12 points keeping a double-digit cushion well into the fourth quarter. UAM did trim the Lady Bison's lead to 55-54 with 8:03 to play. Blankenship answered inside with a tough score and Custer buried her third and final three-point basket to return a comfortable cushion to the home team.
The Lady Bison finished the game making 26-of-52 (50%) of their shots. The 50 percent accuracy was exceeded only one other time this year when OBU made 56.4 percent in a win at Northwestern Oklahoma.
OBU will next play Thursday, Jan. 31 at Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Ark. Game time is at 5:30 p.m. Â
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