Men’s and Women’s Basketball
USAO Splits with Rangers

CHICKASHA – For the second time in as many games, Juliana Leite posted a 20-point game as the University of Science and Arts’ won its first conference game of the season with an 80-63 win over Northwestern Oklahoma Saturday night inside the USAO Fieldhouse. In the late game, the USAO men fell to arguably the league’s best team 70-61 despite having four players finish in double figures.

The USAO women improved to 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the SAC as Leite led the charge with 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting including 4-of-8 from 3-point land. It was the Brazilian’s second straight 20-point game as she posted a career-best 21 points at Oklahoma Christian on Thursday.

Leite’s emergence as a scorer now gives the Drovers five legitimate double-figure scorers with Yesi Castillo, perhaps the Drovers best player, becoming eligible for the spring semester. Charite Lewis, the team’s leading scorer, struggled for the second straight game, but senior Kartesha Rambo returned from injury to post 13 points.

Senior Je’antel Haynes finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting, and junior Sasha Ferguson hit two 3-pointers and finished with 11 points as USAO held off NWOSU’s second-half rally.

Senior Thomas Woods led the Drover men with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting while Tim Nelson, Jorge Parra and Darren Pore scored 11 points each. The Drovers were down only 33-31 at halftime despite the Rangers hot shooting. In the first half, No. 24 NWOSU knocked down 5-of-8 from 3-point land and was well over 40 percent from the floor.

While USAO shot well over 55 percent from inside the 3-point line, its struggles from behind the line might have cost them a precious home win in the struggle for a conference title. While the Ranges, 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the league, connected on 7-of-12 from 3-point land, the Drovers only hit 2-of-13. Nelson, who was hitting 44 percent of his 3s coming into Saturday’s and nailed five 3-pointers against OC, managed only 1-of-10.

Both teams are in action Saturday night as they host highly-ranked Southern Nazarene beginning at 6 p.m. The SNU women (7-1, 2-0) are preseason No. 5 in the country and No. 2 in the Sooner Athletic Conference after a 74-72 home win over OC on Saturday night. The SNU men (5-3, 1-1) are preseason No. 9 in the country and No. 2 in the SAC. The Crimson Storm rebounded from a loss to NWOSU with a 72-65 win over OC Saturday night.

A Saturday sweep of the Crimson Storm would put the men and women back into the race for the conference title.

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