SHAWNEE – Southwestern Oklahoma State scored 38 fourth-quarter points en route to an 83-77 victory over Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday at the Noble Complex.
Four Lady Bulldogs scored in double figures led by Averi Zinn's 21 points. As a team, SWOSU made all 12 of its free throws and sunk 11 three-balls.
For the Bison,
Madison Chambers scored a team-high 18 points, her 12th straight game in double figures. Plus,
Erika Ankney and
Jaedyn Getman each scored 16.
The Lady Bulldogs utilized the three-point shot in the first to attain a 20-14 lead. Layne Zinn connected on two of the team's four long balls while Macy Gore and Fayth Laughlin one apiece.
For OBU, it was content on driving to the hoop and managed to shoot 46.2 percent but the Bison's downfall in the first was turnovers. SWOSU scored eight points off five Bison miscues.
Second-quarter action saw the visitors extend their lead to as many as eight, 31-23. That came with about 90 seconds left before the green and gold closed strong. On the next pair of possessions,
Melissa Southard and Ankney each swished through a pair of threes to cut the deficit to 31-29. By half, it was 33-29 SWOSU.
After the break, the Bison had a solid third. They hit 61 percent from the field and went 8-for-8 at the charity stripe.
About three minutes in,
Jill Leslie scored off a Getman pass to tie the game at 37. That sparked a small run for the hosts who attained a 41-37 lead on a fast-break Getman shot. Later,
Sydney Duncan swished through two free throws to push the Bison lead to 52-42, its biggest.
Fourth-quarter action was quite the change for SWOSU's offense. After it made five of 15 shots (33.3%) in the third, the visitors scorched the court hitting 70 percent in the final stanza. There were also just two turnovers for the visitors.
In the last 5:21, the Lady Bulldogs hit five long shots including Morgan Smith's at 3:19 to take the lead for good. OBU didn't have a bad quarter either, hitting 52.9 percent, but they it couldn't keep pace with SWOSU.
On Saturday, the Bison will look to get back on track at Northwestern at 1 p.m. in Alva.
