WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The No. 13-ranked SWOSU Lady Bulldogs went into the halftime locker room tied up with Southern Nazarene on Wednesday evening before a 37-point scoring outburst in the third quarter gave the Dawgs more than enough to work with the rest of the way. SWOSU eventually would go on to handle SNU 93-61 and remain perfect in GAC play.
In a tale of two quarters in the opening half of play, SWOSU saw its hot start and 17-point first quarter lead evaporate to nothing by the end of the second quarter. Southern Nazarene came out hot in that second quarter and in need of points, while SWOSU's offense battled through a dry spell that allowed the Crimson Storm back into the game. With one second left on the clock before halftime, SNU's first half comeback was complete following a pair of made free throw shots that knotted the game back up at 34-34.
Out of the halftime locker room, the Lady Bulldogs reestablished themselves with a commanding 17-0 run to start the quarter off. Southern Nazarene was held scoreless for the entire first half of the third quarter and didn't break the drought until after the under-five minute media timeout – but by then it was too late.
SWOSU continued to poor on the offense, shooting 70% through the quarter on 14-for-20 attempts while also limiting SNU to just nine points – the second quarter the Crimson Storm were held to single digit scoring totals.
Courtesy of the 28-point lead the third quarter brought, the Lady Dawgs weren't tested for their lead the rest of the way. SWOSU then outscored SNU 22-18 in the final quarter behind 16 bench points to close out their 10th win in conference.
With the exception of the second quarter, all facets of the game were clicking for the Lady Bulldogs. SWOSU held the Crimson Storm to just 30.1% shooting on the night overall, marking the lowest shooting percentage an opponent has shot against the Dawgs this season. Meanwhile, offensively the Lady Bulldogs shot 47.8% as a team and had all five starters finish with double digit scoring and 10 players record at least one basket.
Hailey Tucker led the way with 17 points and eight rebounds, followed by Bethany Franks with 15 points and another eight rebounds. Tyra Aska finished with 14 points and both Hayden Priddy and Taylor Hedrick chipped in 13 points apiece to round out the starting five. Priddy also dished out a team leading seven assists. Off of the bench, Maddie Sperle tallied a season high nine points and finished in the scoring stat sheet for the second consecutive game.
Coming into Wednesday, Hayden Priddy was 17 total points away from her 1,000 point career milestone. The junior ended just four points shy of that number and will now look to collect her milestone in Shawnee on Saturday against Oklahoma Baptist.
Tipoff against the Lady Bison is scheduled for 1 pm on Saturday from inside the Noble Complex in Shawnee where SWOSU (15-1, 10-0 GAC) will wrap up their busy week.
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