WEATHERFORD – Averi Zinn scored as time expired to lift Southwestern Oklahoma State to a come-from-behind 62-60 win over Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday at Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
The loss snapped OBU's four-game winning streak and moved the team's record to 8-3 and 4-1 in the Great American Conference.
Offensive play in the first half left much to be desired. Neither team shot better than 28 percent. In the first stanza, the host Lady Bulldogs led by just a four-point margin, 13-9. That final bucket of the opening quarter came courtesy of
Allie Rehl who converted a
Jaedyn Getman pass with 40 seconds left.
A period later, OBU outscored the hosts 12-7. And it was a
Parker Stevenson steal that led to OBU's first advantage. The sophomore pick-pocketed the ball, found
Mackenzie Crusoe who then fed a pass to Getman whose breakaway layup and subsequent and-one conversion boosted the Bison ahead 16-13.
By halftime, the green and gold led 21-20. Crusoe led with six points while Getman added five.
After the break, OBU was highly effective on offense in the third. The team shot 61.5 percent from the field and made two-of-three from deep. Rehl delivered the last of the threes and gave the green and gold a slim 39-38 lead heading to the fourth.
In the final stanza, it felt like the Bison were in control. In fact, some timely threes by
Kennedy Large,
Payten Conde and
Katelyn Davis had the Bison up six, 58-52, with about three minutes left.
Then at the 1:33 mark, Crusoe sank a pair of freebies to move the scoreboard to 60-54 OBU. However, down the stretch, some tough foul calls, a few free throws and a three-ball by Mason Jones tied the game at 60 and left OBU and its fans stunned.
On the Bison's final offensive possession with the contest tied, Rehl was blocked by Hailey Grant in the paint and that led to SWOSU's final chance of the game. Out of a timeout, Zinn drove right and dipped under two defenders and scored to send the hosts into the victory column.
This was the final game of 2024 for OBU. They will return to action on Jan. 4 at the Noble Complex when it hosts Northwestern Oklahoma State at 5:30 p.m.
