Senior Traci Murphree (22) goes up for the layup in a game late last season. UCO is 2-1 this season. Photo provided.
By Steve Vidal, The Vista Sports Writer
The UCO women’s basketball team used a combination of strong defense and clutch shots down the stretch to pull out two huge wins last weekend.
UCO took down the third-ranked team in the NAIA, Oklahoma Baptist 61-56.
Then they followed it up with a 56-53 victory over the eighth ranked team in the NAIA Oklahoma City University who they lost to in an exhibition game in Oklahoma City on Nov. 10.
UCO came into the Southwestern Oklahoma Classic in Weatherford on Friday ranked 12th in Division II and anxious to erase the pain of a tough 70-69 loss at Pittsburg State to open the regular season the previous Sunday.
The Bronchos took control of the Friday matchup against OBU early bolting out to a 13-0 lead. After UCO’s Traci Murphree hit a jumper with 9:13 to play in the first half the UCO lead was 12 at 20-8.
OBU fought back using a 22-5 run that covered nearly all the rest of the half.
UCO got Kasey Tweed three-pointer near the end of the half to cut the OBU advantage to 30-28 at halftime.
UCO looked like they may take control of the game again in the second half getting an early 7-0 run to take a 35-32 lead.
After a Rose Anderson three-pointer, the lead was 40-36.
Then OBU made another charge coming back to lead the game 50-47 with just about four minutes remaining after two free throws from Taujhnae Travis.
The Bronchos knew they had to come up big down the stretch and they did.
Two clutch three-pointers, one by Jordan Stark to give UCO the lead back at 52-50 and one by Tweed to break a tie at 52, keyed a 14-6 UCO run to end the game.
Back-to-back layups by Cristina Yarbrough, the second with just 1:09 to play, gave UCO a commanding 59-52 lead and all but sealed the victory.
Three Bronchos reached double figures in scoring. Ashley Beckley led the team with 14 points and six rebounds.
Yarbrough had 12 points and led UCO in assists with seven.
Stark had 11 points and came up big on three pointers shooting three-out-of-four. Ashley Harrell led all OBU scorers with 15.
Saturday brought another tough test for the Bronchos, the OCU Stars.
This time the UCO defense was up to the challenge holding OCU to 37.9 percent shooting and just 53 points.
In the exhibition game between the teams just a week-in-a-half earlier, the Stars ran up 98 points on 58 percent shooting.
The first half stayed close almost all of the way. UCO jumped out 17-11 after a Rose Anderson layup with 12:06 to play in the first half. After a Courtney Allen three-pointer the lead was 20-14.
Then OCU went on a 12-4 run to get the lead at 26-24 capped by a Starr Fairbanks jumper.
Late in the half Stark hit a big three to put the Bronchos back up 29-27.
She had 11 points in the first half and led the team in scoring for the entire game with 19.
UCO owned a 29-28 lead at the break.
Up 33-31 early in the second half the Bronchos used a 14-3 run with five of the points scored by Anderson to build a 47-34 advantage.
The Bronchos looked like they may be heading toward a comfortable victory.
OCU had other ideas going on a 6-0 run to make it 47-40. With only 5:25 remaining Yarbrough hit a layup to put UCO up 51-42. A three-point play from Stark with 4:35 to play put UCO up 54-44.
The Stars capitalized on a couple of UCO turnovers and missed shots to go on a 7-0 run capped by a Holly Harden layup to cut the UCO lead to 54-51 with just 1:52 left to play. That was as close as the Stars got.
Two Beckley free throws gave UCO some breathing room at 56-51 with 1:24 left to play.
OCU cut it to three again at 56-53 after a Laura Duncan layup with just 23 seconds left.
OCU had one more shot at a three pointer to tie it after a Broncho missed foul shot, but the attempt was no-good securing the UCO victory.
Stark had six rebounds to go with her 19 points.
Beckley had 10 points and six rebounds with two assists. Anderson contributed with nine points three rebounds and three assists.
Lauren Gober led OCU in scoring with 17 points to go with four rebounds and three assists.
Duncan had nine rebounds to go along with three points and five assists.
UCO is now 2-1 on the season after taking both of their games in the Southwestern Oklahoma Classic hosted by Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
The team is back in action tonight against The University of Sciences and Arts in Chickasha at 6 p.m.
Following that game the team will have a week off between games over the Thanksgiving break before returning to their brutal stretch of 10 straight games away from Edmond to start the season.
The game will be against Lone Star Conference South Division opponent Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas, on Dec. 1 at 6 p.m.
