By BRYANT VENOSDEL, Student Reporter
The Lady Rangers fell short against East Central and Oklahoma Baptist Feb. 16 and 18.
In the first of the games against ECU, the Rangers were able to get off to a hopeful start with the lead in the first with a good shooting percentage of 46 percent. The scoring runs were in part of the good shooting exhibition that was put on by the leading scorers, Kori Barrios with 16 and Kalea King with 15.
Combined with the great defense that the Rangers showed, they held ECU to a shooting percentage of just 28 percent in the first. Going into the second half, East Central was able to take away the momentum that the Rangers built and use it for their own gain as they trade baskets evenly back and forth but ECU’s shooting percentage dominated the Rangers in the second half by 30 percent to the Rangers 13 percent.
The Rangers kept their defense strong throughout the game, but East Central was still able to outscore the Rangers in many categories such as points in the paint, bench points and second chance points. With East Central able to wipe out the largest lead of the game at 14 points, ECU beat the Rangers 67-56.
The next game up against Oklahoma Baptist, the Rangers had an opposite showing in the first quarter compared to their ECU game, with a slow start of just eight points with OBU dropping 24 points.
The Rangers were able to find more of a groove in the second quarter with their great defense playing a key part, being able to get down to a better rhythm shooting bringing it up to 32 percent in the first half with 21 points. This still didn’t stop Oklahoma Baptist from getting in their own zone with 40 percent shooting in the first half and leading the Rangers 39-29 going into the second half.
The Rangers made improvements to get a comeback of their own started up, but it happened too late in the third quarter, going head to head against OBU and making defensive stops the Rangers were able to hold them to just 13 points while the Rangers snagged 16 points in the third quarter.
The Rangers were able to get more crucial points in the paint against Oklahoma Baptist (24-20) and more bench points (19-14) with even a better shooting percentage at 48 percent to OBU’s 38 percent but that just wasn’t enough to stop OBU from getting 25 points in the fourth quarter to the Rangers 26, leaving the final at Oklahoma Baptist 77-Rangers 71.