Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The Lady Bulldog Basketball team overcame a 12-point fourth quarter deficit, closing the game on a 10-2 run to stun nationally-ranked Lubbock Christian 77-75 on Monday night at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center in Weatherford.
After trailing for most of the night, the Lady Dawgs were down 73-67 with 2:11 to play, but began to chip away at the Lady Chaps advantage.
Hailey Tucker hit a pair of free throws with 2:07 remaining to become the all-time leading scorer in Great American Conference history and capped off a strong defensive sequence with a steal that led to a three-pointer from
Hayden Priddy which got SWOSU within one, 73-72, with 1:31 to play.
Lubbock Christian responded with a basket to go up 75-72 with 45 seconds remaining, but Tucker again got back to the stripe and cut it to one point with 35 seconds to play. LCU used a timeout to move the ball into the front court, but SWOSU's defense laid it all on the line to get a steal with 17 seconds remaining. Several players went to the deck in pursuit of the loose ball, with
Tyra Aska getting to it first before Tucker got a hand on the ball before she was taken out. When the dust had cleared,
Bethany Franks picked up the loose ball, pivoted and found enough space to lay it in and put her team up 76-75.
In the midst of the chaos, Lubbock Christian tried to rush back up the court and, in doing so, turned it over on a traveling violation with 12 seconds left, setting up a pair of free throws Aska that made it 77-75 in the closing seconds. Without a timeout, LCU raced into the frontcourt with less than 10 seconds to play, but SWOSU's defense again tightened up and wouldn't allow the Lady Chaps to get a shot off until a desperation heave at the buzzer that was wide of the mark.
SWOSU won the game despite leading for just 3:40 and they did so in large part because of the play of their star senior duo.
Hailey Tucker finished with 25 points despite connecting on just 8-of-23 field goal attempts and misfiring on all nine of her attempts from three-point range. She did connect at a high rate from the free throw stripe, where she hit 9-of-10 attempts, including the pair late in the game that lifted her past Jordan Goforth of Arkansas-Monticello (1,803 points; 2012-16) and into the top spot in Great American Conference history.
Hayden Priddy hit several clutch shots for the Lady Bulldogs, finishing with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting and a 5-of-10 success rate from beyond the arc. Named GAC Co-Player of the Week earlier in the day, junior
Tyra Aska also reached double figures with 10 points while filling out the stat sheet with seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block.
Bethany Franks grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds with four steals to go along with her eight points – none bigger than the go-ahead basket in the closing seconds.
"We knew that it wasn't going to be easy, it never is with an opponent like Lubbock Christian. They're too good of a team with too much tradition," SWOSU Head Coach
Kelsi Musick said after the game. "For us to get behind and then be able to chip away at the deficit shows what these players are made off. Big time players have to make plays in big moments and that's what happened at the end of the game. We also had an unbelievable crowd tonight, so thank you to everybody who came out to support us!"
The Lady Bulldogs improve to 6-1 on the year with the win – their sixth straight – while also extending their home winning streak at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center to 22 consecutive games. Next up for SWOSU is a trip to Edmond on Thursday for a non-conference matchup with Oklahoma Christian, who they previously defeated 98-73 on November 24th.
