OBU Women Top Evangel 69-59

After rallying from an early 8-2 deficit, OBU found its shooting touch and captured a 69-59 win over Evangel University Friday night.

The Oklahoma Baptist University women tied the game at 14-14 with 11:51 to play in the half with Rachel Heins scoring six points in the 12-6 run. The Crusaders inched ahead again and led 19-14 before Tabetha Eaton scored seven points in an 11-2 Lady Bison run for a 25-21 lead at the 7:18 mark of the half.

Evangel lurched forward again, claiming a 26-25 advantage with 5:04 left in the half, but OBU went on a 9-3 run to close the half, including four points from Layla Schwarz. The Bison led 34-29 at intermission.

OBU opened the second half with a 12-1, including seven more points from Schwarz, pushing the Evangel deficit to a game-high 16 points at 46-30 with 16:34 left in the game.

Evangel was able to whittle the lead down to six points with 41 seconds left, but ran out of steam as OBU hit for free throws down the stretch.

Eaton finished with a game-high 22 points, while Schwarz ended with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Heins added a dozen more for OBU.

NaTasha Neal had 18 to lead the Crusaders.

OBU, now 8-0 for the first time in the John McCullough coaching era, will try Saturday night at 8 p.m. for its first 9-0 start since the 1997-98 season. The hurdle will be Texas Wesleyan University.