An On-Star Emergency

BETHANY, Okla. (March 5, 2010) – An 11-point second half lead and six players with double-figures in points was not enough for No.23 Lubbock Christian University to pull off the upset win over No.6 Oklahoma City University at Sawyer Center Friday afternoon, as the Stars defeated the Lady Chaparrals 79-77 in overtime to advance to the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game on Saturday.

The Lady Chaps led by 11 points (57-46) with 5:10 remaining and never trailed in the game until the Stars went on a 17-4 run to take a 63-61 lead with 40 seconds remaining. Six turnovers by the Lady Chaps during the Stars scoring surge assisted the comeback, and one of the biggest ones the Lady Chaps felt they had no control of.  With three minutes remaining and LCU leading 61-55, Severyn Smith slipped through the defense to receive an inside feed and found herself all alone under the basket, but unfortunately for her, she was directly under the basket.  Smith went up for the shot and the bottom of the basket denied her shot and she came right back down with the ball.  After receiving her own rebound, she could have easily went back up for her own put-back attempt but instead logically decided to pass the ball back to the top of the zone to Brittany Hampton to reset the offense and run off a fresh shotclock… so she thought.  The clock was never reset and the shotclock expired.  The officiating crew of Darcy Schlabach, Rick Bass and Jeff Connor congregated and neither the crew nor the shotclock operator could agree that Smith ever hit the rim with her shot and the violation stood. 

Oklahoma City, who was just 4-of-22 (18.1%) from the field in the second half before the scoring binge, went 7-of-9 (77.8%) in field goals during the run.  LCU did receive a lay-up from Smith with 24 seconds left and an offensive foul by OCU’s Donica Cosby with 1.7 seconds remaining denied the Stars a chance to win in regulation and forced overtime.  The extra frame was a foul fest with Oklahoma City receiving 10 of their 16 points at the line.  Cosby dominated overtime for OCU with eight of her game-high 30 points tallied in overtime.  She had struggled from the free-throw line in regulation, going 5-of-11, but she was 6-of-6 in overtime.

A majority of OCU’s success in the game came from the free-throw line.  After opening the game shooting 45.5% in the opening half (5-of-11) from the line, Oklahoma City was 24-of-27 (88.9%) after halftime from the free-throw line, taking advantage of a 27-13 free-throw attempt advantage over LCU.  The Stars out-scored LCU 24-7 from the free-throw line after the half.

When the whistles were not blowing, the Lady Chaps dominated the play.  OCU, which averaged shooting 46.2% from the field entering the game, was held to a 36.4% (24/66) shooting percentage in the game.  LCU meanwhile shot 49.1% (28/57) from the field and shot 57.1 % (12/21) in the opening half of play.  The Lady Chaps led 32-27 at the half.

Smith led LCU with 13 points and she was joined in double-figures in points by Renee Wilson (12), April Ehlers (11), Hampton (11), Shamika Singleton (11) and Ashley Coggins (10).  For OCU, Chontaye Walter (14), KJ Johnson (11) and Lauren Gober (10) joined Cosby in double-figures.

The win was the 22^nd consecutive win for OCU and it was their fourth consecutive overtime win during the stretch.  They also messed with danger in the opening round of the tournament, defeating Southern Nazarene 75-74 Thursday.  OCU (28-3) will face Oklahoma Baptist in the conference championship game Saturday.

LCU falls to 19-11 and they have now been eliminated in the conference tournament for a fourth consecutive season by OCU, who improves to 7-0 in tournament history against LCU.  The Lady Chaps are now 8-16 all-time in SAC Tournament history.  They will now await an at-large bid to the 30^th Annual NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship tournament, which will announce the field of teams on March 9^th.