SHAWNEE, OKLAHOMA - The Lady Rangers played Oklahoma Baptist Saturday evening to close out the season series against the Bison. Northwestern finishes the season splitting the season series following the 10 point loss to the Bison. A slow start proved costly for the Rangers after the Bison took the lead late in the first quarter the Bison led the rest of the way, never trailing.
Northwestern drops to 20-5 on the season overall with a 13-5 Great American Conference record.
The Lady Rangers were led in scoring by Faith Simpson and Carly Craig as the only two double figure scorers. Simpson had a game high 21 points as Craig finished with 15 points. Payton Jones and Paige Scott had team highs with three steals on the defensive end. Simpson's 21 points on Saturday afternoon had her surpass the 1,000 point mark in her Northwestern scoring career.
The first quarter started with all defense as it took four and a half minutes before the first points were scored of the game coming from Nikya Orange with a jump shot assisted by Carly Craig for a 2-0 Lady Ranger lead early. Oklahoma Baptist answered the next possession to tie the game. The two teams traded 5-0 runs as the game was tied at 9-9 after a couple of Simpson foul shots. Catyn Graham hit a three pointer to push the Bison in front at 12-9. Oklahoma Baptist would carry a 14-9 lead into the second quarter after closing on a 5-0 run.
Oklahoma Baptist continued the run into the second quarter as Sydney Duncan hit a jump shot for a 16-9 lead early into the second quarter. The run stretched to 11-0 run to put the Bison up 20-9 over the Rangers following a three pointer by Faith Wright. Josena Frame ended the scoring run with a couple of foul shots but Wright hit her second straight three pointer for a 23-11 lead. Oklahoma Baptist stretched the lead to their largest of the half at 28-13 after a three pointer by Jaedyn Getman. Josena Frame hit a fast break layup off a steal on the other end cutting the deficit just under 10 at 30-21 going into the half time break.
Lady Rangers looking for a comeback had the opening second half points as Simpson picked up an opening possession steal and layup to cut the deficit down to seven at 30-23. Northwestern trailed 34-28 with 7:08 left in the third quarter before Oklahoma Baptist hit a three pointer by Parker Stevenson to push it to nine and start a 7-0 run over the next two minutes as the lead was stretched back to 13 at 41-28 with 4:54 left in the third quarter. Summya Adigun ended that run by the Bison but Oklahoma Baptist answered back, continuing to hold their double digit lead over the Lady Rangers. Payton Jones hit her first basket of the quarter with a layup in the closing seconds bringing the game to 48-37 in favor of the Bison going into the fourth and final quarter.
Jones' bucket at the end of the quarter sparked a Lady Ranger run to get back in the game. The run stretched into the fourth quarter as Carly Craig picked up an opening possession steal and a fast break layup for her 15th point of the game as Northwestern trailed by nine. A Payton Jones three pointer followed by a Nikya Orange jump shot had the Lady Rangers back within four. The run stretched to 11-0 to bring the game back within one possession before an Oklahoma Baptist timeout. The Bison ended the run and took a 50-46 lead but Northwestern struck for four straight to tie the game at 50-50 with 3:51 left to play. After the Lady Rangers were able to tie the game though Oklahoma Baptist hit back to back three pointers from Large and Stevenson to take a 56-50 lead with 2:28 left to play. Simpson hit a basket with 2:07 left in the game to bring the Lady Rangers back within four but the Bison defense held the Lady Rangers scoreless in the final two minutes to close out the 62-52 victory over the Lady Rangers.
Northwestern will be back home for three straight games to end the home portion of the schedule against Harding on Thursday with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 PM, Arkansas Tech on Saturday and Southern Nazarene on February 29th.
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