Three Ouachita Baptist University women’s basketball players reached double figures in scoring as the Lady Tigers stunned host St. Mary’s during the final day of the St. Mary’s New Year’s Classic, 77-69, Wednesday at Bill Greehey Arena.
Gabby Coleman paced Ouachita with 24 points on 6-of-14 shooting, while going 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. Angela Colliver finished with 12 points, while A’Laeshia Adams added 11 as the Lady Tigers were 25-of-65 (38.5 percent) from the field.
St. Mary’s (11-2) rallied from as many as seven down in the second half to broke a 63-all tie as Chasity Noble drained a pair at the free-throw line to give the Rattlers a 65-63 lead with 3:46 left. Back came Ouachita (8-2) as Domino Miller scored on a layup to tie the game and sank the free throw for the three-point play to give the Lady Tigers a 66-65 advantage with 2:42 remaining.
After a missed jumper by Natalie Gamez, Maranda Parker extended the Ouachita lead to 69-65 after a 3-pointer with a little more than two minutes to play. Farren Fox trimmed the margin in half to 69-67 after two shots at the line with 1:17 left.
However, Gabby Coleman gave the Lady Tigers a 71-67 advantage on a jumper with 50 seconds remaining.
Ouachita led by as many as five, 7-2, early after an Adams 3-pointer, but back came St. Mary’s, using a 6-2 spurt to cut the Lady Tigers lead to 9-8 after a Gamez jumper with 15:56 remaining in the first half.
The Rattlers took their first lead of the night shortly after the first media timeout as Lesleigh Phillips scored on a layup and 30-seconds later, Rachel Jones scored on a fastbreak jumper to give St. Mary’s a 12-9 advantage to force Ouachita coach Garry Crowder to call a timeout.
St. Mary’s stretch the lead to 16-11 after an Ashton Benford layup with 12:12 left in the first half, but Ouachita kept the game close as Colliver drained a jumper to cut the margin to 18-16 and Domino Miller scored on a layup to tie the contest at 18 with a little more than 10 minutes remaining.
The Rattlers pushed the margin to 23-19 only to see the Lady Tigers storm back and tie the contest at 23 after two free throws by Adams with 7:04 left.
Colliver gave Ouachita, which was 12-of-39 (31 percent) from the floor in the opening half, a 28-24 advantage after a free throw with 5:37 remaining in the half. St. Mary’s got two points at the charity stripe by Farren Fox to cut the deficit to 28-26, but Colliver, extended the Lady Tiger lead to 31-26 after a 3-pointer with a little more than five minutes to play.
St. Mary’s, which was 13-of-28 (46.4 percent) from the field in the first half, rallied and tied the game at 33 after a jumper by Fox with 1:45 left in the first half. Both teams traded baskets before Tamara Robinson sank one-of-two from the foul line to give the Lady Tigers a 36-35 halftime lead.
Although the Rattlers began the second half by outscoring the Lady Tigers, 6-3, Ouachita kept the game within reach and tied the game at 45 and 47 after back-to-back jumpers by Colliver and Coleman jumper.
The Lady Tigers grabbed a 50-49 advantage after a Coleman three with 14:41 remaining and extended the margin to 52-49 two minutes later on a Coleman jumper.
Adams pushed the lead to 57-51 after a jumper with 8:42 to play, but Gamez kept St. Mary’s close, 57-53, by sinking a pair at the free-throw line with 8:19 left. However, on Ouachita’s next trip down the floor, Melissa Richardson drained a 3-pointer to give the Lady Tigers a 60-53 advantage with just a little more than eight minutes left.
After a media timeout, Gamez sank a jumper, followed by two points at the free-throw line to cut the Lady Tiger lead to 60-57. Haley Griffin gave Ouachita a 62-57 advantage with 6:05 remaining on a jumper inside the paint.
Fox connected on two shots from the charity stripe and Jones scored on a fastbreak layup to trim the deficit to 63-31 with 4:54 to play. After a missed 3-pointer by Miller, St. Mary’s raced down the court and got a fastbreak bucket by Noble to tie the game at 63 with 3:55 remaining.
Gamez led St. Mary’s with 25 points, while Fox finished with 16 points and 10 boards. Ashton Benford tailed 10 points as the Rattlers were 23-of-60 (38.3 percent) shooting from the floor.
Ouachita, riding a five-game winning streak, returns home 2 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 3 to take on Gulf South Conference East Division foe Montevallo at Bill Vining Arena. The Lady Falcons, who will move to the Peach Belt Conference next season, defeated the Lady Tigers in the first meeting, 71-68, on Nov. 22 in Montevallo, Ala.
