ALVA, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball team hit a conference-high 15 three pointers to earn their second victory of the weekend. The Lady Rangers held the lead for 38 minutes of the game in route to a 77-66 victory over Ouachita Baptist to move to 2-0 in Great American Conference play.
The 15 makes from deep stand as the most three-pointers made in a single game by any team this season in the conference. The Lady Rangers finished the game shooting 55.6% (15-of-27) from behind the line and 43.1% (25-58) from the field.
Northwestern was also able to make the most out of their 13 offensive rebounds and recorded 21 second chance points on the afternoon. No quarter proved to be as important as the first for the Black-and-Red, as six three pointers in the opening quarter alone gave them a 29-18 lead, a scoring difference that would prove to be the final margin after one point scoring differences for each team in the second and third quarter and then a 21-21 scoring tie in the fourth.
Freshman Kinsey Neiderer netted a season-high 23 points, including seven made three-pointers, during an afternoon in which she shot 50% (8-of-16) from the field. Junior
Jakeria Otey put together her second strong performance of the weekend, finishing with a team high 24 points to go along with six rebounds and six assists.
The Lady Rangers led by as many as 16 at the 6:46 mark of the second quarter after opening up their 29-18 first quarter lead. Ouachita battled back and narrowed the gap to just 43-39 at the 6:58 mark of the third quarter, but a McKenzie Billy three pointer with 34 seconds left in the quarter eventually regained a double-digit advantage for Northwestern at 56-45.
Ouachita could only manage to narrow the lead to seven points as the Lady Rangers closed out their second consecutive victory of the season in the final minutes of the fourth.
Freshman Bailey Brown hauled in a team-high nine rebounds on the evening to go along with her seven points, while junior
Deja Beechum hit 2-of-4 attempts from behind the three-point on her way to eight points.
The Lady Rangers celebration of their first ever 2-0 start in Great American Conference play will be short lived as they are scheduled to take on non-conference opponent Oklahoma Panhandle State on the road in Goodwell, Okla. on Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. Northwestern will then have one more non-conference game at home against Tabor College inside Percefull Fieldhouse on Nov. 25 at 1 p.m. before getting back into conference action the following weekend.
