Women's Basketball 3/22/2014 6:45:00 PM

Stars hold off Campbellsville 79-76

OCU reaches Fab Four for 12th time

Cara Pugh tallied a career-high 27 points for OCU on Saturday.

Box Score
FRANKFORT, Ky. – Oklahoma City University clipped Campbellsville (Ky.) 79-76 on Saturday in the NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament quarterfinals at the Frankfort Convention Center.
Cara Pugh, a senior from Oklahoma City, poured in a career-best 27 points for the fifth-ranked Stars. OCU (25-4) advanced to the NAIA Division I Tournament semifinals at 5 p.m. Monday against John Brown (Ark.).
Oklahoma City extended its streak of 25-win seasons to 16 while moving into second place by itself on the NAIA Tournament victory list. OCU improved to 59-13 in NAIA Tournament play to go ahead of Southern Nazarene. Union (Tenn.) owns the most NAIA Tournament wins at 67. Fourth-ranked Campbellsville ended its season at 32-4.
Pugh hauled in seven rebounds, fired in four 3-pointers and connected on 8 of 13 shots from the field. By halftime, Pugh had 21 points and all four treys. Pugh surpassed her previous high of 24 points against Texas Wesleyan on Jan. 23 in Oklahoma City.
The Stars' Yvonte Neal, a junior from Spring Valley, Calif., notched 19 points, four assists and five treys, and Kayla MacKenzie, a senior from Peoria, Ariz., reeled in 13 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Autumn Huffman, a senior from Midwest City, Okla., posted her second double-double of the tournament with 10 points and 11 rebounds for OCU. Huffman hit 5 of her 7 shots from the floor.
MacKenzie stole the ball with six seconds left, then drew a foul. She hit a free throw to give OCU a 79-76 edge. Autumn Lau of the Stars rebounded Katie Allen's 3-point attempt as time expired to finish the game.
OCU made the NAIA Fab Four for the 12th time in 20 national-tournament appearances.
"Big players make big plays, and today we had a team of big players," OCU coach Latricia Trammell said. "Cara Pugh had a really big game for us. You could tell she was locked in. Her 21 points in the first half kept us in the game."
The game featured seven ties and 17 lead changes. Trailing 70-68 with 5:56 left, OCU mustered a 7-2 run to seize the lead for good.
"I'm very proud of our team for keeping their composure and fighting through adversity," Trammell said. "The last five minutes of the game when both teams were battling back and forth, you could see the determination on our players' faces. They were in it to win it."
Neal canned a 3 to put the Stars in front 71-70 at the 3:30 mark. MacKenzie added a pair of free throws with 3:00 to go.
Allen's bucket cut OCU's lead to 73-72, but Huffman responded by sinking a basket with 2:18 remaining. Daizah Kimberland scored to cut OCU's lead to 75-74, but Ouleymatou Coulibaly dropped in a two-pointer to put the Stars up 77-74 with 1:13 left.
Kristen Jacob had free throws with 32 seconds left to draw Campbellsville within one point at 77-76. MacKenzie's free throw gave the Stars a 78-76 lead with 25 seconds to go.
OCU built its largest lead of the game with 43 seconds left in the first half. Lau blocked a Campbellsville shot that MacKenzie rebounded and scored off for a 45-38 Stars advantage.

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