by Ashley Watts, Sports Editor
Northwestern Oklahoma State University women’s basketball team played longtime rival Southwestern Thursday. Unfortunately after a tough fought battle the Lady Rangers fell short to SWOSU, 81-76.
Hillary Hurst led all scorers with 19 points in the game, and brought in eight rebounds. Bailey Brown was close behind with 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Lady Rangers. Kenzi Lamer provided 11 points, and seniors Kalea King and Jakeria Otey each finished with 10 points.
This game traded leads many times. The Lady Rangers held the lead throughout the first quarter, but would trail by one going into halftime.
Southwestern opened up the second half with a three clinging onto a 40-39 lead. The leader of the game would change over to Northwestern as they held onto a one point lead heading into the final quarter.
Southwestern would quickly tie the score in the final quarter a minute into it. The team started matching three for three at one point in the quarter and for Northwestern they were hit by Leverich, and Hurst. Southwestern would then go on their big run to get an advantage by going on a 15-6 run to open separation at 76-67 in the rival’s favor. The Red-and-Black made sure not to go anywhere getting as close as three with 20 seconds left in the game. SWOSU would close out the win after foul shots and would win this one by a final 81-76. NWOSU would shoot 8-of-22 from the field 5-of-11 from three point range. However, SWOSU would go 9-of-14 including five three’s over their own to win the quarter 29-23.
This would also allow the Lady Bulldogs to win the game by a final of 81-76.