NW Oklahoma News

The Lady Rangers fall short in Saturday's conference game 53-57 against Ouachita Baptist Saturday afternoon in a defensive battle. The loss drops the Lady Rangers to 7-5 on the season and they are 3-5 in the conference and 1-3 on the road. Overall, this game went back and forth as both teams competed heavily against each other throughout the game with 12 lead changes and 6 ties.

Talayah Thomas led the Lady Rangers with 21 points shooting, her season high whcih ws previously 11. She shot 50% from the three, and 100% from the foul line. She also had 9 rebounds alongside Camille Thomas who had 10 points and 7 rebounds.

First Quarter

Northwestern gets their first basket of the game assisted by Josena Frame deep on the floor with a three made by Carly Craig. There was a quick turn around for another goal after the Tigers missed a layup making the score 5-3 two and half minutes into the game. Frame assisted Craig again for another three with a layup followed by Camille Thomas. As The Lady Rangers lead was now 10-7, Thomas took a trip to the free throw line hitting them both. The girls proceeded to go on a 6-0 run with Talayah Thomas scoring mid-range & ended the quarter with 2 free throws made by Faith Simpson. Northwestern shot 66% from the 3-point line and 100% from the foul line leading 16-11.

Second Quarter

Nikya Orange secured the first basket after the break with a defensive rebound in transition into a fast break layup. She completed her trip to the free throw line to for a three-point play. C. Thomas brought NWOSU back into the lead with a turn-around jumper making the score 21-20. Orange scored back to back layups both assisted by Craig keeping the momentum up for the team. As the quarter continued the Lady Rangers went on yet another scoring run (5-0) finished by T. Thomas assisted by both Craig and Orange. Tigers fouled Orange and sent her to the line and scoring both free throws. With 16 seconds left in the quarter, T. Thomas scored the last basket of the half with yet another assist from Craig! The Lady Rangers ended the first half behind one 35-36.

Third Quarter

Northwestern scored first in the second half with another three made by Craig. Shortly after the media timeout T. Thomas earned her second and third steal of the game. Both teams went back and forth without scoring until C. Thomas broke that trend with an assisted layup thanks to Charmayne Marshall. T. Thomas made another trip to the free throw line keeping the score close 42-43. She ended 4-4 from the line putting the Lady Rangers back in the lead at the end of the quarter 44-43. This was NWOSU's leading quarter for rebounds with a total of 16, surpassing the amount completed in the first half (12).

Fourth Quarter

To begin the last quarter of the game, there was another free throw opportunity for C. Thomas yet again and both shots were good. Craig stole the ball for the fourth time and T. Thomas kept Northwestern in the lead with another layup making the score 48-43. After OUA scored 7 points, T. Thomas was able to bring the ladies back in the game to tie it 50-50 with two more made free throws, making her 6-6 from the line. With four seconds left in the game, T. Thomas shoots Northwestern's last shot ending the game with 21 points as the Lady Rangers fell 57-53.

The Lady Ranger's play next on January 19th back in Ada, Oklahoma against the East Central Tigers looking to sweep the season series.

Original source can be found here