DURANT – Faith Wright became the first Bison freshman to hit five 3-pointers in a D2 game as Oklahoma Baptist defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State 78-72 on Thursday.
OBU got its 15th win of the season, the most it has attained under third-year coach
Bo Overton. Additionally, the green and gold improved to 15-12 and 11-10 in the GAC.
Wright scored a season-high 15 points, all on three-pointers, while classmate
Jaedyn Getman tallied 20. OBU was well-balanced as
Melissa Southard (13) and
Jill Leslie (15) also reached double figures. As a team, the Bison hit 50.9 percent from the field, 45 from deep and made a season-high 14 threes.
The opening quarter was virtually dead-even as each team shot 33 percent while OBU held a slim 14-13 lead after 10 minutes of action. Southard started the game with a pair of threes.
In the second, the Savage Storm overtook the Bison, outscoring the visitors 20-17. The scoreboard went back and forth a bit though as the green and gold led 31-30 after another Southard three with 2:19 left. But by half, SE's Lauryn Scalice's long ball with 59 ticks left pushed the Storm back up, 33-31.
SE wound up hitting 50 percent (9-of-18) in the second.
After intermission, the hosts got out to a hot start and extended their lead to ten, 43-33. That came after a three from Abbie Barr at the 6:23 mark. Aiding SE in that stretch was a 1-for-7 start on offense by the Bison.
Despite that, OBU got in gear and rallied. In the final 6:23 of the third, OBU outscored Southeastern 16-5 and led 49-48 going to the fourth. Wright added nine of those points while Chambers also hit a three.
In the fourth, the Bison pulled away about midway through the quarter. Nursing a three-point lead at 59-56, OBU hit a 10-3 stretch, led by Getman's six points and Leslie's four. OBU's offense was sensational in this period, shooting 10-of-11.
With 2:32 left, the Bison were in front 69-59. Southeastern was able to only pull to within six after that.
Next on the schedule for OBU is the regular-season finale at home against East Central at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 25.
