OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma City Women's Basketball team fell short to College of the Ozarks on Monday night as Amaya Gordon and Jerney Bennett lead the way with big nights for OCU. 

TOP PERFORMERS
Amaya Gordon - 20 PTS, 4 REB, 4 STL, 6-6 FT
Jerney Bennett - 10 PTS, 10 REB, 4 BLK
Taryn Cottrell - 11 PTS, 5 REB, 5-8 FG

STAT OF THE GAME: Oklahoma City kept its strong defense going on Monday night having seven blocks which is the most by the team in a single game this season. 

FIRST QUARTER: Oklahoma City opened the night with six straight points right out of the gate on 3-for-3 shooting from the field. The Bobcats defense went on to hold OCU without a basket for over three minutes as Ozarks made its way back taking a 16-14 lead with 31 seconds to go. Taryn Cottrell brought a spark off the bench for Oklahoma City scoring five points in the quarter including her fourth three-pointer of the season along with a shot by the rim to tie the game at 16 all to end the period. 

SECOND QUARTER: OCU took its lead up to six points in the second quarter dominated on the offensive boards with five rebounds on that end of the floor. Jerzie Bryant led Oklahoma City with five points in the period as Cacie Gorman knocked one of her three makes with 56 seconds on the clock to retake the lead by one before the Bobcats snatched it right back to take the lead one point lead into the break. 

THIRD QUARTER: Oklahoma City sas its highest-scoring quarter as Amaya Gordon tallied 50 percent of the Stars points on a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. Despite scoring at a high clip, Oklahoma City faced its largest deficit at six points before the freshman pair of Cottrell and Imani Cudjoe scored on back-to-back possessions while Gordon closed out the quarter with four straight points giving OCU a one point lead entering the final 10 minutes of play. 

FOURTH QUARTER: The Stars followed up the third quarter with the lowest scoring quarter of the night in the fourth with just 10 points in 10 minutes despite going up seven with 6:34 to play. Oklahoma City went on to finish the game with just four points in the final six and a half minutes allowing College of the Ozarks to get back in it and come away with a narrow one point victory. 

GAME NOTES

• Oklahoma City dropped its first game in conference play seeing its SAC record move to 2-1 while being 2-4 overall losing its third game of the season by six points or less.
• Amaya Gordon posted her second consecutive game with 20 or more points as the senior tied her season-best with three assists while notching three takeaways. 
• Jerney Bennett has been a defensive nightmare for opponents at the start to her career as the freshman tallied four blocks for the time this season and second consecutive time out while posting her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. 
• Taryn Cottrell got off to a strong start on the night and never slowed down by scoring a career-high 11 points, reaching double-figure scoring for the first time this season on 5-of-8 shooting from the field while hauling in five rebounds. 
• Oklahoma City freshmen combined for 24 points on the night with Cottrell posting 11, Bennett scoring 10 and Imani Cudjoe putting up three while rookie counterpart Brooke Curry made her second career start on Monday night. 

NEXT TIME OUT: Oklahoma City will return to action on Thursday, Nov. 21 against Langston at 6:00 PM inside Abe Lemons Arena. 

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