LUBBOCK, Texas – SWOSU Women's Basketball made a late fourth quarter push at No. 22 Lubbock Christian on Friday night, but ran out of offense down the stretch and fell 61-54 to the Lady Chaps.
The Lady Bulldogs (2-2) cut a 14-point fourth quarter deficit down to as few as five points, trailing 59-54 with 3:21 remaining, but were held scoreless for the remainder of the game. SWOSU held LCU without a field goal during that same span, though the Lady Chaps finally added two free throws in the closing seconds to ice it.
LCU shot 9-of-12 from the field in the first quarter and built a 25-16 lead after the game's first 10 minutes. SWOSU bounced back in the second quarter by forcing eight turnovers and narrowly outscored the Chaps 12-11. They trailed 36-28 at halftime.
Lanie Gooch scored the first seven points for the Lady Bulldogs out of halftime and the deficit was cut to three halfway through the third quarter. The Chaps pushed the lead back to double digits by the end of the quarter, leading 50-40.
Things looked to be trending LCU's way in the fourth quarter after they led 57-43 with 6:47 left to play. A 9-0 run from SWOSU shrunk the margin to five before not scoring again in the contest.
SWOSU has forced at least 20 turnovers in all four games so far this season including 22 on Friday night against Lubbock Christian.
On the flip side, the Dawgs committed 18 themselves – a new season high – which led to LCU 18 points.
The Lady Dawgs shot 38% as a team including 35% from deep and was 5-of-7 from the free throw line. Despite being held to 28% shooting in the fourth quarter, LCU finished at 50% shooting overall on the night and 13-for-14 at the charity stripe.
Hailey Grant led the offense with 15 points and finished with her first double-double of the season after securing 12 rebounds. It's her best scoring and rebounding numbers of the young season.
Averi Zinn followed with nine points but shot just 3-for-15 on the night.
SWOSU will battle Texas-Permian Basin tomorrow evening at 5:00 p.m. to close out the Food King Classic.
