WAXAHACHIE, Texas – Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) rallied past Oklahoma City University 65-52 on Saturday at the Sheaffer Center.
Catherine Kruschke, a senior from Dublin, Calif., led all Stars in scoring with 12 points, while tallying six rebounds, four assists and three blocks. OCU, ranked 14th in NAIA Division I women's basketball, dropped to 13-6 on the season and 10-2 in Sooner Athletic Conference play. SAGU improved to 14-9, 7-5 in the SAC.
The Lady Lions outscored the Stars 29-13 in the fourth quarter after trailing OCU 39-36 at the start of the quarter.
Bethany Krock of SAGU made a jumper in the paint to tie the game at 40-40 with 7:33 to play. OCU's Allison Frey sank a 3-pointer in the next possession to take the lead again by three points. However the Stars were held scoreless for the next 4:22 seconds of play as the Lady Lions built a nine-point lead at 52-43.
Janae Haag snapped the scoreless streak with a 3 at the 2:52 mark to cut the SAGU lead to 52-46. That was the closest the Stars got as the Lady Lions finished on a 13-6 run, while shooting 9-for-10 from the free-throw line.
OCU made 4 of 12 free throws, while SAGU shot 19-for-23 from the free-throw line. The Stars were outrebounded 44-31 and shot 35.6 percent from the floor compared to SAGU's 40.4 shooting percentage.
The Stars were outscored 11-10 in the first quarter but outscored the Lady Lions in the second and third quarter, 16-14 and 13-11, respectively.
Frey, a sophomore from Mustang, Okla., scored nine points on 3-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Haag, a junior from Olpe, Kan., notched seven points, four blocks, three steals and had a team-high eight rebounds.
Daniela Wallen, a junior from Caracas, Venezuela, scored 10 points, while grabbing six rebounds and seven steals.
OCU meets Wayland Baptist (Texas) in a matchup of the top two teams in the conference at 6 p.m. Thursday in Plainview, Texas.