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OBU—Oklahoma Baptist University

Lady Bison Hold Off Stars

January 12, 2008

Oklahoma Baptist survived a late run by Oklahoma City to claim sole possession of first place in the Sooner Athletic Conference with a 63-60 win Saturday night in the Noble Complex.


Laura Duncan gave the No. 16 Stars a 60-59 lead with 36.9 seconds left by grabbing an offensive rebound and knocking down a three-pointer.

In the last 30 seconds, it came down to hitting free throws and getting defensive stops.

Keely Tolin gave the No. 4 Lady Bison a one-point lead after sinking two from the free-throw stripe 13 seconds later. Betsy Simmons came up with a huge defensive rebound on a Duncan miss with under 10 seconds left and passed the ball off to Ashley Gamble.

"We found a way to dig in and get a stop and get a rebound," said OBU head coach John McCullough.

Gamble got fouled and calmly hit her two free throws to seal the game at 63-60.

"We had the right person on the line in both Ashley and Keely," McCullough said.

Not just Gamble and Tolin hit from the stripe. As a team, the Lady Bison went 20-for-22.

The Stars had six seconds to tie the game, but couldn't hit.

Heather Graham led OBU with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Tolin followed up with 11 and Gamble scored 10, eight from the free-throw line.

OBU had a six-point lead with 1:55 left to go, but the Stars scored the next seven points.

"We let them back in with some mental lapses," McCullough said.

A 13-2 run at the end of the first half gave the Lady Bison a 28-19 lead at the break. In the half, OBU held the Stars to 20 percent shooting and 33.3 percent for the game. Duncan scored 18 and Breezy Martin put in 15 points for OCU.

The Lady Bison, still perfect at 15-0 overall and 7-0 in the SAC, travel to Science and Arts of Oklahoma Thursday to try to tie the school record for best start to a season.

Oklahoma Baptist 63, Oklahoma City University 60

Oklahoma Baptist

Heather Graham 5-15 4-5 14; Keely Tolin 3-6 5-5 11; Ashley Gamble 1-6 8-8 10; Jennifer Jupin 4-9 0-0 9; Tanna Truelove 1-2 3-4 6; Jayme Glover 2-5 0-0 5; Betsy Simmons 2-2 0-0 4; Jessi Donnel 2-4 0-0 4; Katie Cupp 0-0 0-0 0; Kristin Anderson 0-0 0-0 0; Tiffany Jupin 0-0 0-0 0; Erin Pickering 0-0 0-0 0; Totals 20-49 20-22 63.

Oklahoma City University

Laura Duncan 5-11 4-4 18; Breezy Martin 6-8 3-3 15; Viola Beybeyah 5-12 1-2 11; Atta Diabate 2-6 4-4 8; Chelsea Ledbetter 1-6 1-2 3; Romana Vynuchalova 1-4 1-2 3; Zanita Johnson 0-6 2-2 2; Erika Gaddies 0-4 0-0 0; Mikelle Brown 0-2 0-0 0; Nicole Hardin 0-0 0-0 0; Kay McConnell 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 20-60 16-19 60.

Oklahoma Baptist 28 35 - 63

Oklahoma City University 19 41 - 60

3-point goals-Oklahoma Baptist 3-14 (Jayme Glover 1-3; Jennifer Jupin 1-4; Tanna Truelove 1-2; Keely Tolin 0-1; Ashley Gamble 0-4) , Oklahoma City University 4-16 (Laura Duncan 4-7; Erika Gaddies 0-2; Chelsea Ledbetter 0-3; Zanita Johnson 0-2; Viola Beybeyah 0-2) . Fouled out--Oklahoma Baptist-None, Oklahoma City University-None. Rebounds-Oklahoma Baptist 35 (Heather Graham 10) , Oklahoma City University 36 (Laura Duncan 10) . Assists-Oklahoma Baptist 14 (Jayme Glover 4; Jessi Donnel 4) , Oklahoma City University 16 (Zanita Johnson 6) . Total Fouls-Oklahoma Baptist 16, Oklahoma City University .