Basketball Women Blow Past Texas Wesleyan

After falling behind by as many as 15 points in the opening minutes, the USAO women’s basketball team went on a 21-6 scoring run midway through the first half to blow past Texas Wesleyan Thursday night. The Drovers defeated the Lady Lions 79-58 in their final non-conference home game.

With the 21-point win, USAO improves to 4-0 overall. The Drovers travel to Oklahoma City University tonight for a 6 p.m. game against Texas College in Abe Lemons Arena. On Nov. 18-20, USAO is scheduled to compete in the Jackson, Tenn., Rotary Classic, followed by a 4 p.m. game Nov. 27 at Tabor, Kan.

On Thursday, USAO committed 11 turnovers in the first eight minutes and trailed 22-8 with 10:53 left in the first half. The Drovers, then, out scored the Lady Lions 23-9 over the rest of the half to tie at 31-31 at the break.

The game remained close for the opening five minutes of the second half, but USAO used another 14-0 scoring run to pull ahead for good. By the 12:20 mark of the second half, the Drovers were ahead by 12 points and cruised to the 21-point win.

Junior Katie Sterling led four Drovers in double figures with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Senior Karole Roberts finished with 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while senior Christal Merriweather collected 15 points and a game-high six assists.

Junior Christina Brown came off the bench for 11 points, including three baskets from 3-point range. Junior Stephanie Russell finished with eight points, junior Nicole Sherman had four and freshman Keely Clinton added two to round out the Drovers’ scoring.

As a team, USAO connected on 43 percent (25-of-58) from the field, 32 percent (6-of-19) from 3-point range and 85 percent (23-of-27) from the free throw line. The Drovers collected 46 rebounds, 13 assists, 11 steals and committed 22 turnovers.