Women's Basketball 1/19/2012 12:43:00 AM

OCU rocks Southern Nazarene 87-31

Five Stars score in double figures to lead OCU to a 56-point victory

Nicollette Smith scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half against Southern Nazarene Thursday.

BETHANY, Okla. – No. 2 Oklahoma City University pounded No. 15 Southern Nazarene 87-31 Thursday at the Sawyer Center.
The 56-point margin of victory is OCU's largest in the history of the rivalry since OCU beat Southern Nazarene 96-56 in the 2006 Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament. Southern Nazarene's 31 points are the fewest allowed by the Stars this season.
Five Stars scored in double figures to boost OCU's record to 16-1 overall and 10-1 in SAC play.
The Crimson Storm claimed an early 4-3 lead, but after a Lauren Gober layup gave the Stars the lead OCU embarked on a 27-2 run to make the score 30-6 with 8:02 left in the first half. Gober scored seven points and senior Dietra Caldwell had six to fuel the OCU run.
Caldwell hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put OCU up 28 with 6:05 to play in the half and the Stars continued to roll, leading by as many as 32 points in the half.
Senior Taylor Booze hit a jumper with seven seconds left to give OCU a 46-14 lead at halftime.
Caldwell led the charge in the first half with 17 points on 5-for-6 shooting from behind the 3-point line. The Stars shot 43 percent from the floor and 41 percent from 3-point range as a team in the first half.
OCU scored 17 points off 14 Southern Nazarene turnovers and held the Crimson Storm to 21 percent shooting from the field and 14 percent from 3-point land. The Stars outrebounded Southern Nazarene 28-12 and scored 14 second-chance points in the half.
The Stars started the second half with an 11-0 run, led by six points from Booze, to make the score 57-14 with 16:26 left on the clock.
Kayla MacKenzie made a pair of free throws at the 10:11 mark to start OCU on another 11-0 run. Nicollette Smith capped the run with a 3-pointer to make the score 75-22 with 7:47 remaining.
OCU maintained its lead the rest of the half and led by as many as 56 points en route to the 87-31 victory.
Smith led all scorers with 19 points and added four rebounds. The senior center scored 17 points in the second half.
Caldwell was four assists shy of a triple-double, posting 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Booze added 13 points and six assists, Gober chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds and senior Tiffany Goldwire had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
The Stars outscored Southern Nazarene 30-10 in the paint and shot 41 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point distance. OCU's bench outscored the Crimson Storm bench 41-10.
OCU scored 36 points off 27 turnovers and held Southern Nazarene to 22 percent shooting from the field and 13 percent from 3-point land.
The Stars will return to action against USAO at 3 p.m. Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena.
Boxscore

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