Box Score WEATHERFORD, Okla. – SWOSU's women's basketball team opened the 2014-15 season at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center playing host to the Arkansas-Fort Smith Lady Lions, winning 83-73 in non-conference action.
The first half was a close affair, with the visitors leading through most of the opening period.
Jennifer Williams paced the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points on 7-13 shooting, including 2-4 from behind the arc.
Chelsea Bates was SWOSU's next leading scorer with nine points, finding most of her points from the free throw line where she was 7-8 in the half. UAFS featured a balanced attack, with only one player, Ashley Bean, in double digits to end the half, while five other players had at least four points.
The key difference in the game came at the start of the second half, where the Lady Dawgs enjoyed a 19-8 run to take their lead to 63-48 with just over ten minutes remaining. SWOSU would never relinquish the lead, expanding it to 20 points before they finished the game with a ten point victory.
Williams and Bates continued to be a force in the second half, finishing with 26 and 25 points respectively.
Kimmi Sawatzky (13) and
Morgan Vogt (10) also finished in double digits for the Lady Dawgs, while Sawatzky shot a team high 57.1 percent from the field.
SWOSU won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding the Lady Lions 49-46. Bates pulled down 11 rebounds to start the season with her first career double-double.
Korina Chapman also enjoyed a good night on the glass, grabbing nine boards, while Sawatzky recording seven.
The Lady Bulldogs shared the ball efficiently, recording assisting on 51.8 percent of their baskets. Sawatzky assisted on seven of SWOSU's 27 made baskets, while recording just two turnovers. Bates was second on the team with three assists, while also recording two steals.
"It's good to start the season with a win. I think we had moments where we looked pretty good but there were also moments that our defense broke down and our offense took bad shots," Musick said. "We made some adjustments at halftime and the team reacted positively and got going fast in the second half. We play to win, but we also want to keep getting better and better and not keep making the same mistakes and I saw us start to do that in the second half."
SWOSU returns to action on Saturday, November 22 when they open up conference play against Harding at 1 PM in Searcy, Ark.
