NW Oklahoma News

The Lady Rangers host a three game home stand in Percefull, returning home from their Arkansas trip last week. An intense game was played against the Ouachita Baptist Tigers, losing by four points coming down to the final seconds. 

This now makes Northwestern 8-12 for the season, and 4-12 in the conference.

 Despite the loss, this was a big night for forward Faith Simpson, scoring 27 points. Camille Thomas earned a double-double this evening with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Carly Craig earned 17 points and 6 assists.

 First Quarter

The Lady Rangers scored the first basket of the game with a pull-up jump shot by Carly Craig. She earned the first steal of the game in the next defensive possession. Craig finds Talayah Thomas open at the three earning her first points. On defense, Camille Thomas rebounding the ball before capitalizing with two free throws, making both. Northwestern then went on a 6-0 scoring run with two three-point shots completed by Craig. After a few minutes of no scoring, C. Thomas found Nikya Orange open in the post for a layup at the 2:34 mark. T. Thomas was fouled and scored both of her free throws, ending the quarter with a score of 20-17 in favor of the Lady Tigers.

 Second Quarter

 Northwestern utilized their defense in the first few minutes of the quarter before scoring any points but was able to hold off the Lady Tigers from scoring for the first two minutes as well. Faith Simpson rebounded a missed free throw made by OBU and drew a foul, scoring both shots at the foul line. She was able to get a layup with an assist made by C. Thomas not even 10 seconds later. Orange was fouled with two and a half minutes left in the half and earned the team two more points. The Lady Rangers ended the quarter with two back-to-back baskets, and a three-pointer made by T. Thomas followed with a jump shot made by C. Thomas. The score was 35-28 Lady Tigers at halftime.  

Third Quarter

Returning from the break, Simpson was able to steal the ball and pass the ball to Craig, who then found Simpson back open in the post for a layup. Chrissen Harland earned points off the bench with a layup in the next possession. Josena Frame deflected one of Ouachita Baptist's passes and got the ball to Craig for another three-pointer. T. Thomas had an offensive run scoring two free throws and then finding Simpson open for an assisted block shot within the next possession. Northwestern continued to emphasize their post-game by feeding the ball to Simpson, who scored another layup with a great pass made by Craig. Simpson drew a foul from this shot and earned a three-point play!

 Anna Motycka knocked down a big three pointer toward the end of the quarter scoring an open three pushing the Rangers in front. The team utilized their pass-game bringing the ball inside to Simpson and getting the ball back out to her for the shot. Post play continued to shine this quarter as C. Thomas helped Simpson score another layup. C. Thomas scored two points shortly after bringing the Lady Rangers into the lead 49-46, which began a back and forth battle of leading scores between the two teams. T. Thomas earned the final point of the quarter for Northwestern scoring a free throw, and they ended this quarter trailing the Lady Tigers 57-50.

 Fourth Quarter

 Opening the final quarter of the game was Simpson, scoring another shot. C. Thomas drove to the basket and earned NWOSU two more points. Keeping the post-game alive, as the ball was fed to Simpson who then found an open pocket to pass to C. Thomas scored another two points cutting to the basket. C. Thomas passes the ball to Craig who shoots a deep three, earning her fifth assist of the game. Simpson drew another foul and completed both free throws. C. Thomas scored down on the block with a great pass made by Craig, and Simpson repeated this same thing with T. Thomas the next offensive possession. Simpson pulled up from the field and scored a jump shot with 50 seconds left in the game, then took the ball back down to the block for a layup off the glass to bring the game to a three-point difference 73-70 (OBU). Drawing a foul, she earned her second three-point play of the game creating a two point margin for the lead. Craig shot yet another three-pointer with 17 seconds left in the game, keeping them just two behind the Lady Tigers. Simpson shot the last basket of the game for Northwestern with another layup completed thanks to Craig. Northwestern fell Thursday 80-76.

Original source can be found here