Erika Ankney scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting but it wasn't enough as Northeastern State defeated Oklahoma Baptist 72-55 on Saturday in non-conference women's basketball.
Helping Ankney was freshman Jaedyn Getman who scored 11 while senior Madison Chambers tallied seven points and four assists, a game-high.
The most noticeable stat on Saturday was free throws. NSU got to the free throw line a remarkable 19 more times than the Bison. The hosts were 23-of-29 while OBU hit eight of 10.
In the first, OBU was a little sluggish, making five of 16. Despite that, it only trailed the hosts 12-11 as Malou Savanna, Jill Leslie and Ankney scored the last seven to end the quarter.
Second-quarter action brought NSU a double-digit lead before a solid finish by OBU.
The first 13 points came to the hosts which attained a 25-11 advantage after an Ashton Hackler jumper at 3:45. In that six-minute, 15-second span, the Bison went 0-for-10. On top of that, OBU was whistled for nine fouls, compared to just four for NSU. With that, the RiverHawks were able to get to the charity stripe and hit 8-of-11.
Of note, Oklahoma Baptist did not get to the free-throw line once in the first half.
However, in the last few minutes before halftime, the green and gold cut the host's lead to nine, 32-23. Getman scored four, Kayla Highfill added two and Ankney hit a pair of 3-pointers, including one at the buzzer, to bring the scoreboard to a nine-point deficit.
After the break, Northeastern State pulled ahead for good in the third. The RiverHawks hit 63.6 percent that quarter compared to 30.7 for OBU. That difference helped NSU attain a lead as big as 20, 46-26, after Tess Talo Tomokino's layup at 3:50.
In the fourth, OBU did fight back to get within nine on a couple occasions. On three-straight possessions, the Bison got three-pointers from Kennedy Large, Highfill and Chambers, and along with four freebies by Chambers, OBU had deficits of 60-51 and 62-53.
Those tallies were the closest the Bison got in the second half.
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