DURANT, Okla. - Turnovers would doom the Oklahoma Baptist team as they dug themselves a deep hole early in the second half in an eventual road loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State, 90-79, in their GAC opener on Thursday evening.
The Bison shot well on the night, going 27 of 55 (49%) from the field, but only went 4 of 17 (24%) from deep. The Bison got to the free throw line 30 times and shot 70 percent from the stripe.
The Savage Storm was a red hot 30 of 54 (56%) from the field while also going 4 of 17 from behind the arc (24%), but going an impressive 25 of 31 (84%) at the free throw line.
OBU turned the ball over 17 times through three quarters and finished with 18 total while forcing Southeastern into 13 on the other end. Southeastern held a slight 31-29 free throw advantage while dominating the paint, 50-34. OBU had 15 second chance points and got 22 points from their bench on the night.
The two teams came out of the gates on fire as they both shot over 60% in the first quarter in a back-and-forth affair. The Bison built a 9-4 lead early on behind five points from Kaydee Banks and four points from Kalifa Ford.
Ford was fantastic throughout the first quarter, drawing fouls inside the paint and finishing strong as she scored 10 in the quarter. However, foul trouble saw her first half cut short going into the secord quarter.
Southeastern opened a 25-23 lead going at the start of the second quarter, but went on to dominate the quarter thanks 11 Bison turnovers throughout the half. An 18-6 run throughout from the Savage Storm opened up a 43-29 lead.Â
OBU finally got some offense going despite numerous Bison in foul trouble, but found themselves down 50-38 at the break.
A 14-0 run to start the second half for Southeastern pushed the lead over 20 points as OBU just could not seem to keep possession throughout the third quarter, trailing by as many as 26 points.Â
From there, the Bison were able to fight back into the game thanks to some tough defense and a 15-3 run to make it a 71-58 game going early in the fourth. OBU would get it under 10 at 80-71 with under four minutes to play as Ford got her 20th point.
However, OBU did not quite have enough to finish off the comeback as they would eventually fall on the road 90-79.
Ford finished with 24 points on 8 of 16 shooting to go with eight boards and two steals while Mackenzie Cooper added 13 points and three assists. Kinsey Niederer came off the bench and scored 12 points including a pair of 3-pointers while Jaylin Stapleton added 10 points, five assists, and four boards. Mikayla Shulanberger finished with five points and three steals.
Katie Webb led the Savage Storm with 30 points and eight rebounds while Briley Moon added 18 points and Kamryn Cantwell had 17 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and six steals.
OBU falls to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the GAC. They will return to the Noble Complex on Saturday afternoon as they welcome in Northwestern Oklahoma State with a tip-off time set for 1 p.m.
