Women's Basketball 3/19/2012 8:08:00 PM

OCU cruises past Lubbock Christian into NAIA title game 85-56

Top-ranked Stars play for national championship 5 p.m. Tuesday

Taylor Booze has averaged 13.5 points during the NAIA Division I Tournament.

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Top-ranked Oklahoma City University rolled into the NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament championship game with an 85-56 victory over Lubbock Christian (Texas) on Monday at the Frankfort Convention Center.
Taylor Booze, a senior from Duncanville, Texas, topped four Stars scoring in double figures with 22 points. OCU (34-1) reached the national title game vs. Union (Tenn.) at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
OCU plays for the NAIA women's basketball championship for the ninth time. Previously, OCU has won national crowns in 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Stars took national runner-up in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
The Stars have broken through with a title game appearance after their third semifinal trip in four years.
“We're just excited to be back in the championship game,” OCU coach Rob Edmisson said. “It's been a little bit of a dry spell. I'm happy for our kids and our school that we got them back.”
Tuesday's championship game will be broadcast on CBS College Sports Network. The network can be found on channel 613 on DirecTV and channel 152 on Dish Network. OCU's alumni relations office will host a watch party to see OCU in action at Buffalo Wild Wings located at 5500 Tinker Diagonal in Del City, Okla.
Booze drained four 3-pointers and grabbed five rebounds. Dietra Caldwell, a senior from Missouri City, Texas, posted 19 points, five assists and four 3s for the Stars.
Desiree Jeffries, a junior from Oklahoma City, collected 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals, while Tiffany Goldwire, a senior from Oklahoma City, totaled 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots for OCU. Lauren Gober racked up five blocks.
As a team, OCU dished out 18 assists against five turnovers, while Lubbock Christian committed 17 turnovers. Lubbock Christian managed 33.3 percent shooting from the field.
“We played defense when it really mattered,” Edmisson said. “The first half, it wasn't that we weren't playing hard, but it was back-and-forth. I thought second half defensively we really locked down. I don't think they scored on back-to-back possessions in the second half.”
Emily Atkins led Lubbock Christian with 14 points, while Kelsey Canavan and April Ehlers each added 10 points.
“Offensively, we put up quite a few numbers,” Edmisson said. “If we could contain the 3-point line and fatigue your big kids, and I think we did that tonight. We made their big kids tired tonight with the way we transitioned the floor. Like I told our kids before the game, we don't have to be special, we just have to be us. Just keep doing what got us here.”
In the second half, Lubbock Christian chipped into its deficit as Canavan's bucket made the score 45-35 with 16:34 remaining.
OCU answered, putting together a 12-1 spree to build a 70-45 lead. Booze and Caldwell each sank 3-pointers and scored five points in that span. Goldwire started the run with a basket at the 12:09 mark, then Booze followed with a trey.
Caldwell's 3-pointer finished the OCU splurge and put the Stars in front 70-45 with 6:35 showing on the clock.
Caldwell canned a 3-pointer with 8:39 to go in the first half to erase Lubbock Christian's 19-18 edge. OCU proceeded to reel off a 14-4 run to build a 32-23 advantage.
Caldwell, Goldwire and Jeffries each scored four points during that stretch. Kayla MacKenzie drove into the lane for a layup to cap the run and put OCU up nine points with 3:20 left in the first.
Boxscore

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