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PITTSBURG —
The Pittsburg State women made their last field goal of the game at the 3-minute, 34-second mark of the second half and Central Oklahoma scored the final nine points of the last 2:16 en route to a 70-62 win in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association opener Thursday night at Whetzel Court/John Lance Arena.
“Got to credit Central Oklahoma,” Pitt State head coach Lane Lord said. “They made big plays down the stretch, big shots. Players make plays and they were the players tonight.”
Turnovers, missed shots and defensive lapses hurt Pitt State for the second time in three games, home losses against nonconference foe William Jewell and Central Oklahoma.
Pitt State took a 14-11 lead in the first half on a Hailey Roderique layup and that's when turnovers and defensive lapses helped Central Oklahoma go ahead 21-14 with a quick 10-0 scoring run.
Trailing 26-18, Pitt State experimented a little bit with a bigger lineup featuring Lauren Brown and Kylie Gafford, as well as conference leading scorer Lizzy Jeronimus.
Taking advantage of the passing abilities of both Jeronimus and Gafford and the collapsing Broncho defense (especially around Jeronimus), Pitt State gained a 37-33 halftime lead with a 19-6 advantage the final 7 minutes of the first half.
Senior guard Drew Roberts, who struggled with her shooting touch against William Jewell and Quincy (Ill.) and missed her first three shots Thursday night (one field goal and two free throws), caught fire with three consecutive makes at the end of the first half and provided the halftime advantage with back-to-back pull-up jumpers.
The Gorillas shot 57.1 percent from the field (16-28), despite making only two of nine 3-point attempts (22.2 percent). Inside 3-point range, Pitt State made 74 percent of its shots (14-19) in the first half. Those shooting percentages dipped dramatically after halftime.
Central Oklahoma started the second half with the first four points and then by the time Roberts missed her first shot after five straight makes, Pitt State led 44-39. Roberts hit a 3 for a 40-37 lead and then a short jumper for the 44-39 advantage.
Over a brief stretch of the second half, it seemed like redshirt freshman Cathy Brugman either grabbed an offensive rebound or kept it alive and her old-fashioned three-point play after an offensive board gave Pitt State a 47-39 lead.
Despite all those efforts, the Bronchos persisted and cut the lead to one multiple times before finally taking over down the stretch. Central Oklahoma switched into a 2-3 matchup zone and this defense changed the flow of the game, ultimately swinging momentum in favor of the Bronchos.
The Pittsburg State women made their last field goal of the game at the 3-minute, 34-second mark of the second half and Central Oklahoma scored the final nine points of the last 2:16 en route to a 70-62 win in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association opener Thursday night at Whetzel Court/John Lance Arena.
“Got to credit Central Oklahoma,” Pitt State head coach Lane Lord said. “They made big plays down the stretch, big shots. Players make plays and they were the players tonight.”
Turnovers, missed shots and defensive lapses hurt Pitt State for the second time in three games, home losses against nonconference foe William Jewell and Central Oklahoma.
Pitt State took a 14-11 lead in the first half on a Hailey Roderique layup and that's when turnovers and defensive lapses helped Central Oklahoma go ahead 21-14 with a quick 10-0 scoring run.
Trailing 26-18, Pitt State experimented a little bit with a bigger lineup featuring Lauren Brown and Kylie Gafford, as well as conference leading scorer Lizzy Jeronimus.
Taking advantage of the passing abilities of both Jeronimus and Gafford and the collapsing Broncho defense (especially around Jeronimus), Pitt State gained a 37-33 halftime lead with a 19-6 advantage the final 7 minutes of the first half.
Senior guard Drew Roberts, who struggled with her shooting touch against William Jewell and Quincy (Ill.) and missed her first three shots Thursday night (one field goal and two free throws), caught fire with three consecutive makes at the end of the first half and provided the halftime advantage with back-to-back pull-up jumpers.
The Gorillas shot 57.1 percent from the field (16-28), despite making only two of nine 3-point attempts (22.2 percent). Inside 3-point range, Pitt State made 74 percent of its shots (14-19) in the first half. Those shooting percentages dipped dramatically after halftime.
Central Oklahoma started the second half with the first four points and then by the time Roberts missed her first shot after five straight makes, Pitt State led 44-39. Roberts hit a 3 for a 40-37 lead and then a short jumper for the 44-39 advantage.
Over a brief stretch of the second half, it seemed like redshirt freshman Cathy Brugman either grabbed an offensive rebound or kept it alive and her old-fashioned three-point play after an offensive board gave Pitt State a 47-39 lead.
Despite all those efforts, the Bronchos persisted and cut the lead to one multiple times before finally taking over down the stretch. Central Oklahoma switched into a 2-3 matchup zone and this defense changed the flow of the game, ultimately swinging momentum in favor of the Bronchos.
“It was a little bit of a matchup zone,” Lord said. “We were screaming that we needed to get somebody in the middle. It took us about seven possessions to finally get that done. Just great job by them switching their defenses up and they did it most of the night but second half, that little matchup 2-3 zone really caused us problems. We didn’t have Lauren (Brown) in the game to get the ball down low but we had enough shots to make, wide open 3s. It’s been our Achilles’ heel. A great 3-point shooting team last year. We’ve got a lot of the same players but they’re just not going down yet.”
Turnovers and poor transition defense turned into leak-out baskets for UCO guards Rachel New and Britney Morgan. Morgan's lay-in made it a 59-58 contest and she later split a pair of free throws for a tie with 3:54 remaining.
Respective seasonal leading scorers Jeronimus and Alyssa Fuxa exchanged two points for a 61-all game. Jeronimus made a patented drive to the basket and Fuxa hit a pair of free throws after being unable to scream her attack on the rim into the basket.
Roderique split a pair of free throws and on the other end, Morgan gave Central Oklahoma a 64-62 lead with a long range bomb. Fuxa put the Bronchos ahead four on a follow shot and freshman Whitney Dunn made it 68-62 with 40.9 ticks left. Central Oklahoma closed out a 9-0 game-ending run with a pair of free throws.
Jeronimus led Pitt State with 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists, plus she extended her consecutive free throws made streak to 23, a streak dating back to her last free throw against Avila. She made every free throw against William Jewell, Quincy and Central Oklahoma.
Gafford scored all nine of her points in the first half and Brugman added five points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Roberts finished with 11 points, four rebounds, two steals and four turnovers; she missed her only two free throw attempts. Foul trouble hindered Brown, who finished with six points and four rebounds before fouling out with 6:37 remaining.
Dunn, averaging 6.2 points entering Thursday night, scored a career-high 16 points and Fuxa had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. UCO outscored PSU 30-26 inside-the-paint.
Pitt State (5-2) plays its first official road game Saturday against MIAA newcomer Lindenwood in St. Charles, Mo. Central Oklahoma improves to 6-1, winners of six consecutive since a season-opening loss to regional opponent Minnesota-Duluth.
BRONCHOS 70, No. 11 GORILLAS 62
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA (70) — Whitney Dunn 8-11 0-0 16, Alyssa Fuxa 5-12 4-4 14, Britney Morgan 3-8 2-5 9, Chelsea Robinson 2-4 2-2 8, Savannah Hamilton 2-4 1-2 6, Jill Bryan 1-3 2-2 5, Rachel New 2-4 0-0 5, McKenzie Solberg 2-6 1-2 5, Chelsi Dennis 1-2 0-0 2, Jordan Ward 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 26-55 12-17 70.
PITTSBURG STATE (62) — Lizzy Jeronimus 5-15 4-4 14, Drew Roberts 5-10 0-2 11, Kylie Gafford 4-8 0-0 9, Lauren Brown 3-4 0-0 6, Alexa Bordewick 1-7 2-2 5, Cathy Brugman 2-5 1-1 5, Hailey Roderique 1-5 2-5 4, Brigit Hesser 1-1 0-0 3, Y'Cedria Devers 1-1 1-2 3, Morgan Westhoff 1-4 0-1 2, Kristina Willis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-60 10-17 62.
Halftime — PSU 37, UCO 33. 3-point goals — UCO 6-18 (Robinson 2-2, Bryan 1-2, New 1-2, Hamilton 1-3, Morgan 1-4, Solberg 0-3, Fuxa 0-1), PSU 4-19 (Hesser 1-1, Gafford 1-2, Roberts 1-4, Bordewick 1-5, Brugman 0-2, Jeronimus 0-2, Westhoff 0-2, Roderique 0-1). Rebounds — UCO 28 (Fuxa 11), PSU 44 (Jeronimus, Brugman 9). Assists — UCO 15 (Hamilton 4), PSU 11 (Jeronimus 5). Turnovers — UCO 12, PSU 17. Steals — UCO 5, PSU 6 (Roberts 2). Blocked shots — UCO 3, PSU 5 (Brugman 2). Personal fouls — UCO 18, PSU 18. Technical fouls — none. Fouled out — Brown, PSU. A — 1,024.
