Left: Lady Ranger Bailey Brown (30) takes the shot with the Lady Tigers trying to block her. Middle: Northwestern sophomore Hillary Hurst (24) takes her shot during the game against East Central University. The Lady Rangers won 76-68. Right: Northwestern senior Kalea King (2) and East Central's Gabby Cummins (10) collide trying to get the ball during Monday's game. Northwestern won against the Lady Tiger.
Northwestern cheerleaders perform their stunt during halftime of the girls basketball game Monday.
ALVA, Okla. - The Lady Rangers played one final game before the winter break Monday evening, and they finished the 2019 season strong with a convincing 76-68 win behind a very balanced offensive attack.
NWOSU had two double-digit scorers in Hillary Hurst and Bailey Brown at 17 and 16 respectively but Kyleigh Leverich had nine, and three players with eight were Kalea King, Jakeria Otey and Presley Payahsape.
Northwestern started strong in this one. Brown got the scoring started right away, hitting her first shot within seconds of the start. The Lady Rangers opened the game on a 6-0 run. The Tigers stayed within reaching distance from the foul trouble, as the Red and Black committed nine first-quarter fouls, giving the Tigers seven of their 14 points from the foul line in the opening quarter.
The Lady Rangers started the game strong connecting on 46.7% of their shots and assisting on three of the seven made field goals. Otey led the team in scoring with five in the quarter. The opening quarter was a battle with four lead changes through the quarter. ECU struggled going 3-11 in the first and 1-7 from three.
The second quarter was all the Lady Rangers. The aggressive defensive pressure seemed to be way too much as the NWOSU held ECU to just 1-15 shooting from the field in the quarter. The Lady Rangers' offense took advantage, making three 3-pointers in the quarter, out-scoring the Tigers 14-3 in the second to build a double digit lead. The sophomore guard from Cushing, Kyleigh Leverich, scored a quarter high five points for the Lady Rangers. Rangers used a 9-0 run to build the lead and took a 30-17 lead into half time.
Northwestern's defense held the Tigers' offense to 1-16 from three and 4-26 in the first half. They shot 11-26 from the field and 5-15 from three to build the lead.
The third quarter opened with a back-and-forth start as the teams traded basket after basket. Hurst led the way for the Lady Rangers in the third quarter, keeping the team afloat. The sophomore forward, after going scoreless in the first half, led the team with nine points in the third quarter. After shooting 15% in the first half the Tigers would shoot 62% in the third court to close the gap on the Lady Rangers lead. The Black and Red had nine of their 21 points in the quarter from the charity strip. Rangers held an 8-point lead going into the final quarter.
The final quarter opened with a Hurst three keeping the Tigers at arm's length. The closest the Tigers got was within 4 from a Hannah Ladd 3-pointer. Hurst ended their run with a layup inside the paint followed by an Otey steal leading to a fastbreak layup to put the Lady Rangers back up eight. The Lady Rangers used a strong fourth quarter offensively going 8-12 and 2-2 from deep to stay out in front.
The final numbers Northwestern shot a very impressive 49% 24-49 on the night along with 9-20 from three for 45%. The Lady Rangers assisted on 62% of their field goals. NWOSU took advantage of the live ball turnovers scoring 17 fast break points compared to ECU's four points off the break.
Northwestern won this one 76-68 over the Tigers. They improve to 6-4 overall on the year and 2-2 in Great American Conference play, while ECU falls to 3-7 on the season and 1-3 in GAC play.
The Lady Rangers will enjoy some time off for winter break and return to action on Jan. 2 to bring in the 2020 year against Southern Arkansas in Magnolia, Arkansas.
Reader Comments(0)