Carly Craig, No. 1, works toward a shot against Southeastern Oklahoma on Saturday. The Lady Rangers won the contest, 76-68.
The women’s basketball team had their final games last week. One away against SNU and one home against SEOSU. The Lady Rangers had already qualified for the GAC Championships before these games and were just playing for a better spot in the tournament.
The first game Feb. 27 was against the Crimson Storm at Southern Nazarene. SNU won that contest 45-40. Despite the loss, the Rangers had more fast break points, 13 to 2 for SNU, and more turnover points, 12-6.
Carly Craig, the only Lady Ranger to go into double digits, led the scoring with 18 points.
At home for the final game of the season on Saturday, the Lady Rangers beat Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 76-68.
Payton Jones scored the first points of the game with a layup to make it a two-point game. It was responded with a layup from the Savage Storm to tie it. A free throw and a three-pointer made it a four-point game for the Lady Rangers.
Southeastern then took the lead and increased it to four, but NWOSU fought back and made it two by the end of the first quarter. NWOSU tied it in the first seconds of the second quarter, then moved ahead and never relinquished the lead again.
At one point in the fourth quarter, the Lady Rangers were 18 points ahead of the Savage Storm.
Southeastern came within one point of tying again in the second quarter but never was able to do so again.
NWOSU vs. SEOSU Highlights
Three Lady Rangers went into double digits in scoring: Jones and Camille Thomas both with 19 points, and Craig with 10.
Jaida Shipp and Thomas were the top rebounders with 7 each.
The team shot 81% from the free-throw line.
Craig, with 3, and Summya Adigun, with 2, both were 100% from the free-throw line.
Rangers scored 40 points in the paint, 18 off turnovers and 14 as second- chance points.
Almost immediately, Southeastern fouled and gave NWOSU the chance to tie it, and Jones did exactly that. Shipp then made a layup, and then Bass made two tip-ins and a layup to make the lead eight for NWOSU. The Savage Storm fought back and shrunk their lead to one, but a layup and a free throw from Craig made it four. The two teams fought hard to end the half and it ended with a seven-point lead for the Lady Rangers 25-32.The Lady Rangers went on an eight-point run to start the third quarter and had the lead by fifteen points.
They kept that lead throughout most of the quarter, with some resistance from the Savage Storm, but it was never enough for Southeastern. Payton Jones shot a three pointer with one second left on the clock to make it a seventeen-point game headed into the final quarter of the regular season.
The Savage Storm shot a three pointer to start the fourth quarter, but the Lady Rangers weren’t having it. They took their lead and brought it back up to sixteen. A layup from Shipp made the lead eighteen with six minutes left in the game. The two teams went back and forth for a minute and NWOSU’s lead went down to twelve, but with work from Jones and Thomas it went back to fourteen.
With two minutes left, the Savage Storm had been working on the Lady Rangers’ lead and chewed it down to nine. Two free throws from Adigun made it back to the double digits and it was just smooth sailing from there. Although NWOSU let their lead get down to eight, there was nowhere enough time to lose. The Lady Rangers won their final game of the season.