ARKADELPHIA- After establishing an early lead in the first half, Ouachita Baptist never trailed and ran away from Christian Brothers to defeat the Lady Bucs, 87-68, in a Gulf South Conference Women’s Basketball matchup at Bill Vining Arena in Arkadelphia on Thursday.
Ouachita (11-11, 3-6 GSC West) led 39-32 at half, before outscoring Christian Brothers (14-7, 5-4 GSC West) 48-36 in the second half to end a two-game losing streak. While both teams shot around the same percentage level, it was the Lady Tigers who held the edge in rebounding, 55-33, for their largest rebounding margin of the season. Ouachita also succeeded at the free-throw line with an 85 percent night on 23-of-27 attempts, while Christian Brothers shot 58 percent overall on 14-of-24 attempts. In the earlier matchup this season, Christian Brothers came away with a 65-62 victory in Memphis on Jan. 14.
With 19:23 left in the first half, both teams tied the score at 2-2 with a layup from the Lady Bucs’ Sheena DeBose to mark the closest the score would get for the rest of the matchup. Ouachita went on a 13-2 run with 11:47 left in the first, as the Lady Tigers got a pair of layups from junior Shannon White and a 3-pointer from both junior Gabby Coleman and senior Melissa Richardson to give Ouachita room to work with early. Christian Brothers cut the deficit to five with 6:48 with the score at 65-60, but the Lady Tigers never looked back in hitting shots down the stretch.
It was a total team effort for Ouachita in the victory, as junior Gabby Coleman led all players with 25 points on 10-of-26 shooting, including seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Sophomore A’Laeshia Adams scored 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including an 8-for-8 effort from the free-throw line. Sophomore Beulah Osueke recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while senior Angela Colliver added 11 points and six rebounds. Senior Melissa Richardson recorded five points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Ouachita shot 39 percent overall on 29-of-74 attempts, including 26 percent on 3-pointers (6-of-23) and 85 percent at the free-throw line (23-of-27).
Tameka Wooten led Christian Brothers with 24 points, while Normanique Johnson and Sheena DeBose each added 13 points each. Briley Milfeld added seven points in the losing effort for the Lady Bucs. Christian Brothers shot 37 percent overall, including 28 percent on 3-pointers and 58 percent at the free-throw line.
Ouachita Baptist returns to the court on Saturday, as the Lady Tigers travel to face Arkansas-Monticello in Monticello at 2 p.m.
