SEARCY ARKANSAS - Northwestern Oklahoma State Women's Basketball dropped their Saturday afternoon game against the Bisons following a 64-50 loss. Harding used a run with the game at 40-37 to open a 48-37 lead before growing it to 21 in the 4th quarter.
It took two minutes before either team scored as both defense came out of the gate strong. Northwestern forced three misses behind the arc in the early going. Harding made the first basket on a Jacie Evans layup. Faith SImpson had the answer right away though as Carly Craig fed the ball down to Simpson. Harding took a 6-2 lead on back to back jump shots. Camille Thomas ended their run setting the Lady Rangers down 6-4 in to the media timeout.
Hawley scored four straight taking a 10-4 lead before Camille Thomas again ended their run bringing the Rangers back within four. A three pointer by Isbell pushed the Bisons out in front by 11 points for a 17-6 lead. Craig scored her first points of the game toward the end of the quarter as the Ranges trailed 19-8.
Nikya Orange scored the first basked for the Lady Rangers at the 8:12 mark of the quarter on an assist by Carlie Badley as the Rangers now trailed 21-10. Harding continued to hold their double digit lead until the 5:51 mark of the quarter following a three pointer by Carly Craig to cut into the deficit at 22-15. Craig scored five straight following a jump shot as Northwestern was back within five. Harding went on a 5-0 run out of the timeout though pushing their lead back to double digits. Josena Frame connected on her first three pointer of the game sending the game into halftime with the Lady Rangers trailing by single digits.
Harding led 29-20 in a low scoring first half after Sage Hawley connected on a layup in the final seconds of the half.
In the second half Faith Simpson scored the team's first five points all coming from the foul line until the 7:45 mark of the quarter before a Camille Thomas layup cut the deficit to seven points a 34-27 with 7:15 to play.Â
Harding kept answering every Lady Ranger run pushing their lead back to ten at 37-27. A Simpson layup followed by a Talayah Thomas three pointer had the Lady Rangers back within six with 4:34 left to play. A two minute scoring drought in the helps of the Lady Ranger defense helped close the gap even more as Craig hit three straight foul shots to bring Northwestern within three.
Harding closed the quarter on an 8-0 run to go back up 11 points at 48-37. Northwestern scored first in the fourth quarter thanks to a shot from Talayah Thomas to make it 48-41. Harding hit back to back three pointers followed by a shot in the paint for a quick 8-0 run to bring their lead back to 15 at 56-41. The home team's lead grew to as many as 21 before Northwestern chipped back into the game. Northwestern closed the game on a 7-0 run as the final score read 64-50 in favor of the Bisons.
Northwestern will be back in action on Thursday evening against Southern Nazarene with tip-off set for 5:30 PM.
