CHICKASHA, Okla. – Oklahoma City University continued the season unbeaten and earned the wire-to-wire win over USAO with a 80-49 drubbing at USAO Fieldhouse on Saturday.
Lauren Gober, a sophomore from Newcastle, Okla., led the Stars, ranked second in NAIA Division I women's basketball. Gober was hot from the outside, hitting 5-of-7 from 3-point range and going for a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds to lead the Stars to victory.
OCU extended its record to 15-0, 10-0 in the Sooner Athletic Conference after the win.
“We concentrated tonight more on getting her facing the zone as opposed to playing inside-out,” OCU coach Rob Edmisson said. “When she's in that high post, obviously she draws attention but she's not as good at catching in the high post and turning and facing as she is running wide and catching and shooting. She can stretch the zone and shoot you out of it.”
Joining Gober in double-digit scoring was Tiffany Goldwire, Starr Fairbanks and Donica Cosby. Goldwire, a junior from Oklahoma City, put in 14 points and added nine rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Fairbanks, a senior from Cincinnati, also chipped in 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Cosby, a senior from Coldwater, Miss., added 11 points and a game-high seven assists.
OCU used 9-3 and 15-0 runs to start the second half of action and widened the gap to 52-30 with 12:09 to play. The Stars picked up their eighth victory this season by 30 points or more.
“I thought as the game got longer we got stronger and I was impressed with our second half defensive effort,” Edmisson said. “It seemed like we came out the second half and held them to a basket or two about the first eight or 10 minutes and that separated the game for us.”
OCU's second half defense held the USAO women to 2-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc and a total field goal percentage of 33.3 percent for the game. The OCU defense accounted for 32 of their 53 total rebounds, forced 26 turnovers and hustled for 10 steals in the contest. Along with defensive intensity, the Stars found their offensive rhythm in the second half. OCU made 22-of-40 attempts in the final 20 minutes of action and shot 44.9 percent from the field for the game.
OCU led by as many as 16 points in the first half after a 13-3 run extended the Stars lead to 29-13 with 8:07 remaining. However, the Stars allowed the Lady Drovers went on a 8-1 lead to cut the margin to nine points. A 3-pointer by Gober with two seconds remaining in the half got the lead back into double-digits with OCU owning the 33-21 advantage.
“In the first half we had hard time separating because Starr and K.J. were both on the bench with two fouls before you could hardly get your popcorn pulled,” Edmisson said. “That was kind of tough for us so we spent most of the first half playing small ball and playing with a crazy lineup that affected us.”
OCU is next in action at 6 p.m. Thursday against Oklahoma Baptist at Abe Lemons Arena.
