LCU Women Suffer 1st Loss aginst #6 OCU
By: Chris Due
Updated: January 10, 2013
LUBBOCK,
Texas (January 10, 2013) - This time, the shoe was on the other foot
for the No.1 Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals, as they faced
No.6 Oklahoma City University. Last season (Jan. 12, 2012), then-No.1
Oklahoma City suffered their first loss of the season to an underdog LCU
squad. Thursday night, it was Oklahoma City
pulling off the road upset and handing the top-ranked Lady Chaps their
first loss of the season. Desiree Jeffries poured in 19 points and
helped OCU pull off a 79-68 upset win over the Lady Chaps Thursday night
in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
The
game was defensive filled in the opening half and both teams had
trouble
finding baskets. LCU missed their first five shot attempts, while
Oklahoma City went nearly five minutes to open the game without a field
goal and only made one field goal on their first 10 shot attempts. With
8:35 remaining in the first half, LCU led 15-10,
but things then shifted in favor of Oklahoma City. They went on a 7-0
run and used nine first half points from Jeffries to maintain a lead and
take a 25-22 edge into the half. Oklahoma City benefited off eight
offensive rebounds and 10 LCU turnovers in the
half leading to 11 more shot attempts in the half.
OCU
opened the second half with six of the first eight points and had a
31-24
lead. They continued to earn defensive stops and extended their lead to
43-28 with 14:05 remaining. With 4:07 remaining, LCU went on an 8-0 run
and cut the deficit to 63-55 with 2:22 left in regulation. The Lady
Chaps were 4-of-17 from three-point range until
closing the game's final 3:48 going 5-of-7 from long range in attempt to
close the gap, but the Stars preserved the win from the free-throw
line. OCU closed the game's final 2:17 going 16-for-17 from the charity
stripe with Jessica Lankston converting on all
eight of her free-throw attempts.
Overall
in the game, OCU out-scored LCU 26-7 from the free-throw line, with the
Stars an impressive 26-of-30 (86.7%) mark from the stripe. They were
24-of-26 (92.3%) from the line in the second half. Jeffries led all
scorers with 19 points and was one of five Stars in double figures.
Katie Hall scored 16 of her 17 points in the second
half for OCU and joined Jeffries along with Lankston (12 points), Lauren
Gober (12 points) and Ravven Brown (11 points) in double figures.
Nicole Hampton notched a third straight double-double with 16 points and
a career-high matching 14 rebounds for LCU. Emily
Atkins matched Hampton with 16 points, and LCU also received 14 points
from Haley Burton and 10 from Kelsey Canavan. LCU shot a season low
38.2% from the field (26/68) for a second consecutive game.
The win marked the 11th
straight win for OCU and they improve to 11-2 overall and 3-0 in the
Sooner Athletic Conference. LCU had their program record win streak to
start a season come to an end at 16 games and the streak just missed an
overall streak of 17 consecutive wins from last
season. The Lady Chaps fall to 16-1 overall and 3-1 in the SAC.
The Lady Chaps will seek to rebound Saturday, as they host Mid-America Christian
University at 1 p.m. inside Rip Griffin Center.
