COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Oklahoma City Women's Basketball team couldn't overcome a strong first quarter by Columbia College on a big day from freshman Jerney Bennett as the Stars fell 63-55 Saturday on the road. 

TOP PERFORMERS
Jerney Bennett - 15 PTS, 16 REB, 7 BLK
Amaya Gordon - 13 PTS, 7 REB, 4 STL
Imani Cudjoe - 7 PTS, 5 REB

STAT OF THE GAME: As a team, Oklahoma City hauled in 45 rebounds tying its season-high from two different games first coming on Nov. 14 against Nelson before following it up in the next contest on Nov. 16 against UNT-Dallas.

FIRST QUARTER: Columbia College opened with two separate five-point leads before Cacie Gorman cut it back down to a three-point deficit with 4:43 to go. The Cougars used a 9-4 run to close out the first quarter taking its advantage all the way to 10 points before Amaya Gordon stole the ball away and laid it in bringing it 21-13 at the end of the period. 

SECOND QUARTER: Oklahoma City held Columbia College to just eight points in the second quarter with six of the Cougar points coming from Lexi Miller. Trailing by 10 with 3:26 to play, the Stars shutout the Cougars for the remainder of the period climbing its way back to cut it down to four after back-to-back layups in the final 50 seconds by Jerney Bennett and Gordon.

THIRD QUARTER: Cacie Gorman supplied the first basket of the second half to bring the deficit down to two however Columbia did not allow the Stars to get any closer as the Cougars strung together a 12-3 to go back up by double-digits leading by as much as 11 before a Brooke Curry three with 10 seconds left made it a seven point game entering the final quarter. 

FOURTH QUARTER: Akajia Handsom opened the quarter with a made jumper but once again the Cougars had an answer with a 8-0 run that took its lead all the way up to 13 as Lexi Miller hit her sixth three of the day. Gordon and Bennett kept Oklahoma City in the fight but could not come within less than six points of Columbia as the Cougars went 6-for-6 in the final 40 seconds from the free throw line to close out the game with an eight point victory over OCU. 

GAME NOTES

•  After winning two straight, Oklahoma City drops its first game since Nov. 21 moving to 4-6 overall. 
• Freshman Jerney Bennett had a massive day tying her season-high of 15 points while going nuclear on the glass with a career-high 16 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the year. Bennett continued to be a force down low swatting away seven shots to tie a season-high while notching four or more blocks for the sixth time this season. 
• Amaya Gordon reached double-figures in scoring for the ninth time over 10 games this season with 13 points while hauling in seven boards. Gordon tallied four steals in the contest making it the fourth time this season she has had four or more steals in a game. 
• Brooke Curry tallied six points on a pair of threes making it the third consecutive game with multiple threes for the freshman from Choctaw. 
• Freshman Imani Cudjoe racked a career-high seven points in her highest number of minutes played while grabbing a season-best five rebounds. 
• Columbia College swished 10 threes as a team as Lexi Miller went for a game-high 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from downtown. 

NEXT TIME OUT: Oklahoma City will return home to pick back up conference play against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 6:00 PM inside Abe Lemons Arena. 

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