Lady Bison lose first game to Oklahoma City

OBU committed 33 turnovers on the night as the Bison lost their first game of the year to the No. 16 Stars, 74-62.

The loss makes OBU's overall record 12-1 and 1-1 in the conference. OCU improves to 11-4 on the year and 2-0 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.

Sadio Sangare dropped 34 points on the Lady Bison, as she was 12-for-24 from the field.

"She (Sangare) runs the floor well and shoots the ball well," said Head Coach John McCullough. "If she had good knees she would be so much better."

The Lady Bison held Sangare in check the first half with 13 points and were only down three at the break, but an early second half run by the Stars and 19 second half turnovers were the key to OBU's loss.

"Their quickness and ability to convert points off of turnovers was the key to the game," said McCullough. "OCU was really not a great shooting team, but their speed gives them a bunch of easy buckets."

In the first half the Lady Bison jumped out to a seven-point lead at 9-2 after Layla Schwarz drilled a two-pointer and Tabetha Eaton hit one from behind the arc.

The Lady Stars closed the gap with seven straight points and then added a couple more to close a 9-0 run to take an 11-9 lead.

Eaton put OBU back on top with a three-pointer with 11:14 remaining in the half.

Both teams traded baskets until 4:20 left in the half with the score standing at 25-23 in favor of OCU. At that point the Lady Stars went on a 7-0 run to make the score 32-23.

Schwarz and Plumb dumped in four points for OBU as they closed the lead to five at 32-27.

Priscilla Alves closed out the half with four consecutive free throws as the Lady Bison closed their deficit to three (34-31) at the intermission.

The Stars opened up the second half with a 16-2 run and held a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half. The only time OBU pulled the lead down to single digits was with 3:11 left in the game when OBU found themselves down by eight at 64-56. However Sangare hit four free throws to push the lead back out to 12.

"Our heart and energy was there today, but our decision making was not there," said McCullough. "When you turn the ball over 33 times it's hard to beat anybody let alone OCU. It was my fault that they weren't prepared tonight, but we have a lot to look forward to."

The Lady Bison now have to prepare for their longest road trip of the season with games at Wayland Baptist and Lubbock Christian Jan. 13 and 15. Then OBU plays at Oklahoma Christian Jan. 20 and then it the top team in the Sooner Athletic Conference in Southern Nazarene Jan. 22.