Men’s and Women’s Basketball
Drovers on Winning Streak
CHICKASHA – The USAO Fieldhouse was alive Thursday night and felt like it did during the days of national championship runs as the University of Science and Arts swept a doubleheader from highly ranked Oklahoma Baptist.
Winnings the team’s fourth game in a row, the USAO women beat the fourth-ranked and previously unbeaten Lady Bison 86-81 in overtime powered by 25 points from Yesi Castillo. The USAO men won their second game in a row with a 59-57 decision over the sixth-ranked Bison.
Castillo posted a career-high for points and posted her fourth double-double in five games as she scored the final seven points of regulation and six of USAO’s 11 points in overtime including the final two free throws with two seconds remaining. Juliana Leite had her best game since the holiday break going 6-for-9 from the floor and 4-for-4 from 3-point land. The junior posted 19 points and two assists in only 19 minutes of play.
Adding to the Drovers explosiveness, junior guard Sasha Ferguson scored a career-high 18 points as 37 bench points came from Leite and Ferguson. USAO improved to 9-6 overall and 5-3 in the conference. The Drovers are alone in fifth place with a one game advantage over Wayland Baptist and Rogers State.
The USAO men jumped back into the conference race with their best defensive effort of the season. The Drovers held only Southwestern, Kan., to fewer points and OBU only managed 38 percent shooting. USAO forced 18 turnovers and four blocked shots from Eli Flores led to a 24-7 advantage on points off turnovers.
Tim Nelson struggled from the floor, but the junior finished with 16 points and scored the final six points including a timely 3-pointer with 41 seconds left.
OBU jumped out to a quick 12-6 lead and held it until a tip-in of an offensive rebound by DeAngelo Alexander gave USAO a 35-34 lead with 12:54 remaining in the game. Sheldon Stoker scored on a layup, and Alan Harris added two free throws as USAO had its largest lead of the game 41-35. USAO never trailed again.
OBU would not go away, though, as two consecutive 3-pointers by Justin Williams and Evan Grace turned a six-point USAO lead into a tie game with 2:04 remaining. After a Flores blocked shot, Nelson buried his third 3-pointer of the game to essentially seal the win.
Nelson went to the free throw line four times and hit three as USAO improved to 7-7 overall and 3-5 in the league. With the top two teams losing Thursday night, USAO finds itself just three games out of a tie for first place.
Both teams travel to St. Gregory’s Saturday and Northwestern Oklahoma Thursday before returning home to play Oklahoma Christian Jan. 28.###
