T he Ouachita Baptist University women’s basketball team used a huge first-half run to win its fourth straight as the Lady Tigers rolled past Texas A&M-International, 98-85, Tuesday during the opening day of the River City Classic at Bill Greehey Arena on the campus of St. Mary’s University.
Ouachita (7-2) led 11-8 with 16:46 remaining in the opening half after a Domino Miller 3-pointer, but the Dustdevils used a small 5-0 run to grab a 13-11 advantage with 15:56 left.
With the game tied at 13, the Dustdevils (3-8) got a layup by Mary Tobias with 14:08 remaining, but Ouachita would start to pound the ball inside, getting buckets by Haley Griffin, Beulah Osueke and Angela Colliver.
Griffin led four Ouachita players in double figures with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting. She just missed out on a career-high in points, which was set last season with 23. Miller, who was 5-of-8 from the floor, including a season-high five 3-pointers, added 15 points. Colliver and Gabby Coleman chipped in with 13 each, while A’Laeshia Adams recorded 12.
The Lady Tigers, who were 31-of-71 from the floor and an amazing 9-of-20 from behind the 3-point line, turned a two-point deficit, 15-13, into a double-digit advantage by using a 31-10 run, capped by a Miller three with 5:52 left in the half to give the Lady Tigers a 44-25 lead.
Texas A&M-International, which was 15-of-37 from the field in the first half for 40.5 percent, tried to cut the margin and eventually trimmed the Ouachita lead to 51-44 after a 3-pointer by Tobias, who added 15 points, with 1:31 left. But Kim Beverly gave the Lady Tigers a 53-44 lead on a layup with 22 seconds left.
The Dustdevils, who were 9-of-13 from the charity stripe in the opening half, added a jumper by Latreshe Jones with nine seconds left to cut the deficit to 53-42 as both teams headed into the break.
Both teams came out to start the second half misfiring from all ranges, but the Lady Tigers, who drained five 3-pointers in the first half, extended the margin to 56-45 after a Maranda Parker 3-pointer with 17:50 remaining.
Texas A&M-International again cut the deficit to single digits after a pair of free throws by Chevelle Hoyle, who recorded 11 points, with 17:01 left, but a layup by Colliver bumped the Ouachita advantage back into double digits, 58-47 with 16:49 remaining.
The Dustdevils continued to try to chip away at the Lady Tiger lead as Krystal Manning, who finished with 12 points, scored on a layup with 14:43 left to cut the deficit to 61-52.
Back came Ouachita, using a 11-0 run, as Griffin sank a jumper in the paint and connected on a free-throw for the three-point play, and then scored on back-to-back layups to extend the margin to 68-52 with 13:12 remaining. Osueke, who had a team-high 12 rebounds, put the game out of reach with 12:47 left with a layup to give the Lady Tigers a commanding 70-52 lead.
Jasmine June led Texas A&M-International with 16 points as the Dustdevils were 28-of-72 from the floor.
Ouachita, which has scored 70 or more points in every victory this season, concludes the 2008 portion of the schedule 4 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 31 at Bill Greehey Arena in the River City Classic against host St. Mary’s. To follow the game, go to: http://media.stmarytx.edu/~rattlerathletics/livestats/wbasketball/xlive.htm
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