BILLINGS, Mont. – Oklahoma City University held onto a 60-59 victory over Carroll (Mont.) on Friday night at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark in the NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament.
The Stars erased a three-point deficit with 1:44 to go. Tenth-ranked Oklahoma City (31-4) meets Clarke (Iowa) (23-11) at 8 p.m. MDT (9 p.m. CDT) Saturday in the NAIA Tournament quarterfinals.
Oklahoma City reached the NAIA Division I Tournament quarterfinals for the 17th time in 25 appearances and nine of the past 11 years.
After Christine Denny gave sixth-ranked Carroll (26-8) a 56-53 lead at the 1:44 mark, Mallory Lockhart downed a 3-pointer to tie the game with 1:08 left. Abby Selzer laid the ball in for a 58-56 OCU lead with 21.6 seconds to go.
Lockhart sank free throws to give the Stars a 60-56 edge with 7.1 seconds remaining. Jaidyn Lyman hit a trey as time expired for the final margin.
Payton Taylor, a sophomore from Ada, Okla., delivered 14 points, while Mallory Lockhart, a freshman from Keller, Texas, posted 13 points while nailing all five of her free-throw tries for the Stars.
Abby Selzer, a freshman from Thomas, Okla., turned in her seventh double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Brennyn Seagler, a junior from Gruver, Texas, grabbed 10 rebounds, and NaShyla Hammons, a junior from Oklahoma City, added seven rebounds as OCU owned a 43-23 rebounding advantage.
The Stars had their slimmest margin of victory this season. OCU entered the contest with an average victory margin of 26.6 points for the second highest in NAIA Division I.
"We just knew we had to play solid defense," Taylor said of the Stars' clutch play late. "It's a long game even with two minutes left. We just had to cut it down one by one. Everyone played great."
Carroll hit 38.2 percent from the field as OCU held an opponent to a field-goal percentage under 40 percent for the 20th consecutive game. Entering the tournament, the Stars had limited opponents to less than 35 percent shooting from the field for 15 outings in a row. OCU owns the stingiest defense in the NAIA, allowing teams to shoot 29.3 percent from the floor. The Stars won despite matching their lowest scoring output of the season.
Carroll shot 47.6 percent from the floor in the second half. Brittney Johnson sank a 3-pointer with 4:36 left to give the Saints their biggest lead of 53-47.
Hammons drained a trey to give the Stars a 14-5 lead late in the first period for their greatest advantage of the night.
