Saturday night in the Noble Complex, Oklahoma Baptist (7-2, 3-0) faced off against Southeastern Oklahoma State (3-5,1-2) in a tightly-contested match. With the aid of Jill Leslie's career-high 18 points, the Bison bested the Savage Storm with a final score of 69-62.
It was OBU's sixth consecutive victory, last achieved during the 2014-15 season.
Jaedyn Getman kicked off the game with a three-pointer from the left on a pass by Madison Chambers. And though SEOSU ran a brief 7-5 lead, Getman tied the scoreboard at 7-7 before Leslie sank a shot to push OBU back in front.
From here, Malou Savanna took off as the lead scorer with a three-pointer, a trio of free throws and a jumper for eight points. With this, OBU strengthened its advantage and finished the quarter leading 21-11.
The second showcased the Storm itching to catch up with OBU. They did so by taking advantage of six Bison turnovers and limiting Oklahoma Baptist to 18-percent shooting. With that, Southeastern outscored the hosts 17-8. SE's Lauren Beason gave the Storm a 28-27 lead at 1:29 before Savanna hit two more free throws for the green and gold. That brought the halftime tally to 29-28, OBU. The Storm's shooting accuracy was impressive, hitting a fiery 53.8 percent.
For the first two minutes of the third, anything above a point difference showed on the scoreboard. Leslie changed this pattern, though, with a swift three-pointer to stoke her offensive fire. From here, Leslie embodied the OBU surge with a jumper off a steal, a layup, another two-point shot and a three-ball for a total of 12 points. With her work, the Bison only slimly trailed SE at the end of three, 51-50.
The final stanza marked the downfall of the Savage Storm. After a brief SE lead, Kennedy Large tied the game (53-53) with a contested three from the center of the arc. With this, Leslie was able to put the Bison back in front with a turn-around jumper from the bottom left – taking the game to 55-53. OBU never lost the lead again. From there, Leslie, Large, Chambers, Savanna, Sydney Duncan and Melissa Southard all put points on the board to give OBU the 69-62 win.
Next on the schedule for the green and gold is a game at East Central next Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
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