By OAKLEE FIELDER
Sports Editor
This week the NWOSU women’s basketball team had a home and away game.
Their first game was at home against the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Bulldogs. Their second game was away against the East Central University Tigers in Ada. The Rangers were coming off two straight wins from the last week.
SWOSU 36-NWOSU 53
The game against SWOSU started off slow, from the beginning it was clear this was going to be a low scoring game. The first point came in the second minute with a three-pointer by Kennedy Hight. The Bulldogs responded with two points.
The Rangers answered with three straight free throws. The Rangers fouled and the Bulldogs got one more point. The Rangers did not let them score again in the first quarter. NWOSU scored eleven points to take a fourteen-point lead at the end of the quarter with a score of 3-17.
The second quarter was a slow start for scoring, as it took almost three minutes for the first points to be scored.
It was a bit of back and forth between the two teams, but the Rangers did score a bit more than the Bulldogs. The second quarter was much nicer towards SWOSU as they scored eight points in the quarter. The Rangers kept the lead and increased it by two points. At the half, the score was 11-27 NWOSU.
In the second half, the Rangers kept the positive momentum going, and just kept scoring. The Bulldogs had about the same quarter as the second, only scoring eight and not chewing away at the Rangers lead at all. The Rangers had another great quarter and increased their lead by even more, scoring twelve points. The third quarter ended with a large 20-point lead for the NWOSU Rangers 19-39.
The fourth and final quarter started not as slow as the third. The Bulldogs were able to get the first point in the quarter with a layup. The two teams continued throughout the quarter going back and forth with scores. The Bulldogs were able to partially climb toward the Rangers in the scoring but there was nowhere enough time to complete a comeback. The Rangers defeated the Bulldogs 36-53 at home.
NWOSU 36-ECU 53
The next game for the Rangers were against ECU in Ada. The Tigers went out of the gate with a three pointer 20 seconds into the game. The Rangers did answer back but the Tigers took the lead away for a bit. The Rangers came back and cut the lead down to one. The Tigers ran away again with the lead in the first quarter and it ended 9-14. At the start of the second quarter, the Rangers fought back and cut the lead to five. The Tigers turned around and took the lead far again and got as far as thirteen points away from the Rangers. The half ended 18-28 for the Tigers.
The second half started with ECU scoring to increase their lead, but the Rangers fought back hard. They scored well and defended hard to shrink the Tiger’s lead. They were able to lessen the difference between the two from 14 points to a tie. The Tigers never lost the lead and they were still ahead at the end of the third quarter, but the momentum was against them. The Rangers did not have the game won in any sense, as they were still down by 3, but they were far from out of the game. The quarter was a hard back and forth battle between the Rangers and Tigers. The game was going from a large lead from the Tigers to being a one score game multiple times, but catching your opponent and passing them are different. The Rangers were able to be down by two with 17 seconds left in the game after a three-pointer by Carly Craig. With 10 seconds left in the game, the Rangers fouled and allowed the Tigers to lead by four points, an impossible gap with 10 seconds left. The game ended with an ECU win, 36-53.The Rangers leave Ada 9-9 overall, 6-6 GAC, and 5th in the standings. They will face off against away Harding Thursday and Arkansas Tech on Saturday.