OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University outplayed Evangel (Mo.) in a matchup of top 25-ranked women's basketball teams to nab the 72-40 victory Tuesday at Abe Lemons Arena.
OCU (3-0) handed 24th-ranked Evangel its first loss of the season. The Stars, ranked third in the NAIA, were led by a well-rounded scoring effort that saw a trio of women end the night with 13 points apiece.
Lauren Gober, a sophomore from Newcastle, Okla., led the way with 13 points, five rebounds, an assist and two steals for OCU. Desiree Jeffries, a sophomore from Oklahoma City, added 13 points and three rebounds, while Donica Cosby chipped in 13 points, three assists, a block and a steal in the 32-point victory.
Chasity Workman also reached double digits for OCU with 10 points and five rebounds. The Stars were 22-of-46 from the field and hit 24 of 31 free-throw attempts on the night.
“Our strength of our team is our team," OCU coach Rob Edmisson said. “It's our balance, and that's going to be us all year long.”
The halftime score saw the Stars hold the 33-27 advantage, but the second half of action brought a new defensive intensity and rhythm to the game. OCU held the Lady Crusaders to just 17 second-half points on 29.4 percent shooting from the floor while the Stars hit 12 of their 20 second-half shots.
OCU went on 15-0 and 7-0 runs in the second half to put the game out of reach for Evangel. The Stars held the 47-36 advantage when the Lady Crusaders called a timeout with 9:47 remaining. OCU got a quick basket from Jeffries and then picked Evangel's pockets and put points on the board in three consecutive possessions to put the lead at 55-36.
OCU's defensive efforts were seen with 38 points off of 33 Lady Crusader turnovers. The Stars nabbed 14 steals from Evangel and held the 27-25 rebounding edge in the game.
“Evangel is a top-25 team and they're a hard-nosed team, so if you don't bring energy, you're going to be in trouble,” Edmisson said. “We made some adjustments at half, started switching off the screens and once we started switching, our length started bothering them a little bit and we kind of wore them down.”
In the first half, Evangel was 9-of-10 from the free-throw line and shot 42.1 percent from the field to hold the halftime margin to a trim six points. The Stars ratcheted up their full-court pressure to change the tempo of the game and give the home team the advantage. Evangel didn't score its first points of the second half until 15:43 showed on the clock and Kara Blankenship earned a point at the charity stripe.
OCU next faces Avila (Mo.) at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the Benedictine Classic at Atchison, Kan.
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