BILLINGS, Mont. – Oklahoma City University squeaked past Clarke (Iowa) 76-72 on Saturday night at Rimrock Arena at MetraPark in the NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament quarterfinals.
Oklahoma City reached the Fab Four for the 15th time in 25 trips to the NAIA Tournament and for the fourth time in six years. The 10th-ranked Stars (32-4) face No. 12 Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) (27-6) at 8 p.m. MDT (9 p.m. CDT) Monday.
Abby Selzer propelled OCU with 26 points, while Brennyn Seagler supplied 16 points. Selzer, a freshman from Thomas, Okla., matched her season best while shooting 10-for-14 from the field. Seagler, a junior from Gruver, Texas, shot 3-for-5 from 3-point range.
Michaela Kay totaled 13 points, four assists and two steals for the Stars. Seagler and Taylor Sylvester led Oklahoma City with five rebounds each. Sylvester rejected three shots.
Tina Ubl provided Clarke with 19 points, 12 rebounds and three steals. The Pride (23-13) made their first appearance in the NAIA Tournament this season.
Ubl made a 3 to give Clarke a 60-57 advantage with 4:34 remaining in the game, but Mallory Lockhart responded with a trey as well. Skylar Culbertson scored to put Clarke ahead 64-63, then Selzer laid the ball in for a 65-64 OCU edge at the 2:11 mark.
Kay and Lockhart drained four free throws in the final 11 seconds to secure the outcome.
"The past two nights we've had games where we've been down," Selzer said. "We just kept our calm. We decided you have to keep playing. You can't ever give up in these situations, so we executed our plays on offense, and we threw it to the open people. Like our coach always says in practice, 'You got just to execute your plays, and everything will work out.' We'll get good shots up, we'll get rebounds, and we'll make the plays happen."
Our Lady of the Lake topped the Stars 89-81 on Nov. 17 at Abe Lemons Arena in the Oklahoma City Classic.
"The big thing is we have to play our hardest because we want to make it all the way," Selzer said.
