Oklahoma City, Ok – January 16, 2016- The Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) women’s basketball team fell to the reigning NAIA National Champions, Oklahoma City University (OCU), 57-54. OCU is currently sitting in the top spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) with a perfect 6-0 record. SAGU is now tied for the fourth place spot with a SAC record of 3-3.
The Lady Lions jumped to the early lead and with 6:22 left in the first, they were ahead 11-2. SAGU continued to lead by a slim margin throughout much of the first half. Going into halftime the score was 31-28.
“We did a great job executing our game plan for about 34 minutes and it worked,” says SAGU head coach Tiffany Phillips , “We made some mistakes down the stretch and I think it was just the girls wanting to make things happen too much.”
At the end of the third quarter, OCU’s Samantha Stallbaumer sank two free throws to put the Lady Stars up by one, 42-41.
OCU was able to keep the lead throughout the entire fourth quarter, building it to five with 2:22 left. SAGU’s Bethany Krock hit one free throw, followed by one basket and one free throw by Alexis McAfee . With 1:01 left in the game, OCU was up 53-52. OCU’s Janae Haag was fouled on their next trip down the court which led to two made free throws.
SAGU’s Bethany Krock hit a basket with 0:32 left in the game to bring the score to 55-54. SAGU committed a quick foul which put OCU’s Markeisha Johnson on the line. Johnson made both shots to make the final score 57-53.
SAGU forced 23 OCU turnovers. Unfortunately, the Lady Lions had 21 turnovers and OCU was able to capitalize and score 20 points off of SAGU’s miscues.
“The effort was there and the desire to win was there but we have to eliminate some mistakes in crucial moments of the game in order to win against teams of OCU’s caliber,” says Phillips.
Junior Laken Ward led SAGU with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Ward also had three assists and two steals. Senior Bethany Krock had 12 points, seven rebounds and six steals. Ebony Colbert added ten points.
OCU’s Daniella Wallen and Leah Cheney each had 12 points.
On Thursday, January 21, 2016, SAGU will travel to take on Mid-America Christian. MACU is currently 3-2 in the SAC and 6-6 overall. Game time is at 6pm.
Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private, Christian university located 30 minutes south of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Waxahachie, Texas. The university was established in 1927, and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees on campus or online. More information is available at www.sagu.edu or by calling 1-888-YES-SAGU.
