The Ouachita Baptist University women’s basketball team couldn’t rally from an early double-digit, second-half deficit as the Lady Tigers dropped a 66-50 contest to Delta State in a Gulf South Conference West Division opener for both school Saturday night at the Sillers Coliseum.
Domino Miller paced Ouachita (10-3 overall, 0-1 GSC West) with 11 points. The Lady Tigers were 16-of-54 (29.6 percent) from the floor shooting.
The Lady Statesmen (11-5, 1-0) began the game on 8-4 run after a Veronica Walker layup, but the Lady Tigers roared back, tying the contest at 8 after a pair of free throws by Gabby Coleman with 14:39 remaining in the first half.
Walker pushed the margin back to 12-8 after two shots at the free-throw line with 12:44 left. Again Ouachita, which shot 9-of-25 in the first half for 36 percent, battled back as Melissa Richardson scored on a layup to tie the game at 12 with 10:36 remaining.
Kristin McBride gave the Lady Statesmen a 27-20 advantage with 3:36 left in the half. Ouachita tried to keep the game close as A’Laeshia Adams sank a pair at the line to cut the deficit to 27-22 with 3:04 left.
Moe Bell’s 3-pointer gave Delta State a 32-24 lead, but Kim Beverly answered at the other end with a three of her own to keep the game close, 32-27 with 1:50 remaining. After a Lady Statesmen turnover, Adams scored on a layup, and then Coleman hit one of two from the charity stripe to trim the margin to 32-30 with 55 seconds left.
Bug Cooper sank a jumper with 30 seconds left to give Delta State, which was 14-of-33 (42 percent), a 34-30 halftime lead.
The Lady Statesmen started the second half on a 6-0 run, capped by a Lamaesha McAdory layup with 17:33 remaining. Delta State extended the margin to 46-32 after a Courtney Wilson jumper with 15:21 left.
The advantage grew to 50-33 after a McBride layup with 14:19 left, forcing Lady Tigers head coach Garry Crowder to call a timeout.
Ouachita tried to cut the deficit after baskets by Beulah Osueke and Domino Miller trimmed the Delta State lead to 50-39 with 11:52 remaining. However, Delta State continued to keep its lead in double digits as Cooper scored on a jumper with 9:26 left.
The Lady Tigers continued to claw their way back as Maranda Parker drained a 3-pointer to cut the Delta State lead to 54-45 with 5:50 remaining. A layup by Adams trimmed the deficit to 54-47 with 5:36 left. A minute later, Haley Griffin scored on a layup, forcing Lady Statesmen head coach Sandra Rushing to call a timeout with Delta State ahead, 54-49, with 4:22 remaining.
After the timeout, Cooper scored on a layup and after a turnover by the Lady Tigers, McAdory scored on a layup to push the margin to 58-49 with 3:30 left. The advantage grew to 61-50 after a three-point play by Cooper with 2:02 remaining, putting the game out of reach.
Cooper led three Delta State players in double figures with 19 points. Walker added 16, while McAdory finished with 10. The Lady Statesmen were 27-of-59 shooting for 45.8 percent.
Ouachita, which saw its seven-game winning streak snapped with the loss to Delta State, plays host 6 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 15 to Christian Brothers in a Gulf South Conference West Division contest at Bill Vining Arena.
