DENTON, Texas —
Jill Bryan broke out of an early-season shooting slump to score 19 points and Rachel New hit a big 3-pointer down the stretch to spur Central Oklahoma past Angelo State 67-64 here Saturday on the first day of the Marriott Champions Circle Pioneer Premiere.
The Bronchos overcame a nine-point second-half deficit in pulling out their second straight win of the young season after an opening loss and will return to action Sunday with a 4 p.m. contest against host Texas Woman’s.
“We made some big plays the last 10 minutes of the game and came out with a good win,” UCO coach Guy Hardaker said. “We had a couple of good defensive stops and made some big buckets when we really needed them.”
Bryan made just 5-of-16 shots in UCO’s first two games, but the junior sharpshooter was 6-of-9 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and hit all five free throw tries in her 19-point outing while adding eight rebounds.
The Bronchos also got 14 points and eight rebounds from Alyssa Fuxa, while Britney Morgan added 11 points and Hayley Bryan 10.
New had five points and it was her 3-pointer with 4:45 left to play that gave the Bronchos a lead it would never relinquish at 60-58. The Rambelles came back to tie it with 3:58 left to play, but Fuxa’s conventional three-point play made it 63-60 at 3:26.
Neither team scored again until Bryan hit a pair of free throws at 1:19 to up the lead to 65-60 and UCO survived some tense moments the rest of the way.
An ASU bucket with 1:11 left cut the lead to 65-62 and the Bronchos then turned the ball over, but the Rambelles were off the mark on two tying 3-point tries and Fuxa was fouled rebounding the second miss with nine seconds remaining.
She made both clutch foul shots to bump the cushion back to five at 67-62 before the Rambelles scored a meaningless basket at the buzzer.
UCO fell behind 7-2 in the opening minutes of the game before roaring back with a 17-4 run to take a 19-11 lead on Hayley Bryan’s layup midway through the opening half.
ASU responded with a scoring spurt of its own en route to take a 34-30 halftime advantage and the Rambelles were up nine at 41-32 with 17:59 left to play.
UCO started its comeback with a 7-0 run by the Bryan sisters — four by Hayley, a 3-pointer by Jill — that made it 41-39 and it was close the rest of the way.
BRONCHOS FALL AT HOME
Poor shooting — particularly from long distance and the free throw line — proved costly for Central Oklahoma Saturday afternoon at Hamilton Field House as the Bronchos dropped a frustrating 68-66 decision to Oklahoma City.
UCO made only 6-of-25 tries (24.0 percent) from 3-point range, shooting a mere 7.1 percent (1-of-14) in the opening 20 minutes. The Bronchos weren’t much better from the charity stripe, making 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) for the game and nailing just 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) in the second half.
Coach Terry Evans’ troops nearly overcame their game-long shooting woes at the end, but Spencer Smith’s game-winning 3-point try from 25 feet bounced off the front rim as the buzzer sounded to drop the Bronchos to 1-1 with just the seventh home loss in the last 72 games.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball well, there’s no way around it,” Evans said. “We got good looks and didn’t knock our shots down and that carried over to the free throw line.”
UCO, which beat the Stars 81-77 in an exhibition game at OCU on Nov. 8, trailed 35-29 at halftime and were down as many as eight in the second half before rallying.
The Bronchos pulled away for the first time since midway through the opening half with 8:41 remaining when Seth Heckart drilled a 3-pointer from the wing and the game went back-and-forth the rest of the way.
Another Heckart trey had UCO on top 59-57 with 3:22 left, but the Stars came back with seven unanswered points for a 64-59 lead at the 1:16 mark.
It was still a five-point deficit (66-61) with 47 seconds to play, but Jamell Cormier hit one of two foul shots at 0:42 and Josh Gibbs followed two OCU missed free throws with a long 3-pointer at 0:21 to draw the Bronchos within one at 66-65.
The Stars made one free throw at 0:19 and June Carter hit one at 0:11 for the Bronchos to keep it a one-point game before UCO fouled Charlton Jones with six seconds left after it was unable to force a turnover.
Jones made the first charity toss and then missed the next, with Smith gathering in the rebound. The senior forward got the ball back on the other end and tossed up a shot that was on target but just short as the final horn sounded.
Heckart led the Bronchos, hitting 5-of-8 shots with three treys in a 15-point outing. Gibbs added 13 points, six assists and six rebounds, Carter had 13 points and three blocked shots and Smith ended with 10 points and nine rebounds.
UCO ends a three-game homestand Tuesday when it hosts Mid-America Christian at 7 p.m.
Sports
UCO women win in Texas, men lose at home
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Workman's blasts cranks UCO's engine; Bronchos cruise to 5-2 win
Nicole Workman’s solo home run gave Central Oklahoma a lead it would never relinquish and the No. 19-ranked Bronchos went on to topple Winona State 5-2 in the first game of the NCAA Division II Central Super Regional Friday night at the Edmond North High School Softball Complex.
Workman blasted her 14th homer of the season to lead off the second inning, with UCO adding three runs in the third and one more in the fifth to take a commanding 5-0 lead before the Warriors created some anxious moments in their final at bat.
WSU scored two runs and had runners on second and third on with just one out in the top of the seventh, but Kalynn Shrock got the final two batters to close out her fourth straight complete-game outing of the postseason and put the Bronchos in control of the best-of-three series. -
Richters rip competition at KickingBird
The KickingBird 2-man scramble was won by Jeff and Josh Richter, finishing with a 57.9 on May 11.
Jeff Jester and Kevin Wright wrapped up second-place honors with a 59.9 and Rick Morales and Ronnie Roberts placed third (60.1).
In the second flight, the top score was 60.4 by Jerry Bernhardt and Ted Carter. Picking up silver was the tandem of Jerry Fuller and Ramona Jacobi (61.2) and the third-place squad was Dyke Hoppe and Mark VanSickle at 62.0.
Morales was closest to the pin on No. 6 and Jeff Richter landed a dart on hole 14. -
Eagles' season finished; Lopez earns national honor
Southeastern, Fla. eliminated Oklahoma Christian 4-0 om the National Christian College Athletic Association World Series in Mason, Ohio today to advance to the tournament semifinals, while OC closes at 26-26.
OC would have advanced to the semifinals with a win, but completed a terrific turnaround from an 8-34 season in 2012. The Eagles made only the second national-tournament appearance in the program's history, with the other coming in 1972, when OC finished third in the NAIA World Series. -
Multiple baseball camps offered in Edmond
Edmond Schools baseball coaches Kyle Roberts (Edmond Memorial), Jeff Shafer (Edmond Santa Fe) and Karl King (Edmond North) will instruct the Edmond All-Star Baseball Camps starting May 28 at Edmond North High School.
A pair of all-skills camps will take place for kids ages 5 and older from May 28-31 and June 3-6. Times are the same, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
On June 7, a pitcher/catcher camp will be offered for ages 8 and older with the identical time frame. Cost is $35 for the pitcher/catcher camp and $125 for the all-skills camp.
For further inquiries, contact Karl King at 863-3570. -
Arthur Hills eating up Bronchos
Central Oklahoma’s struggles continued at the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championships in Daytona Beach, Fla. Friday.
The Bronchos made 10 double bogeys and two triple bogeys en route to a season-high 329 score on the rugged 6,228-yard, par-72 Arthur Hills Legends Course at LPGA International, leaving UCO in 10th place with a three-round total of 975.
Nova Southeastern has an 881 total heading into Saturday’s final round, giving the four-time defending champion Sharks a one-shot lead over second-place Lynn. -
Bronchos will make 12th appearance in national golf championship Monday
No. 18-ranked Central Oklahoma will make its 12th appearance in the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships in Hershey, Pa. next week.
The 54-hole stroke play portion of the tournament runs Monday-Wednesday at the 7,061-yard, par-71 Hershey Country Club East Course, with the top-eight teams from the 20-team field advancing to match play. -
Online registration for 2013 UCO Endeavor Games now open
Registration is now open online for athletes and volunteers for the 2013 University of Central Oklahoma Endeavor Games, June 6-9, the nation’s largest multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities.
Athletes of all ages or sporting experience are invited to register for the event. Community members are also encouraged to register to volunteer with more than 300 volunteer opportunities available.
Similar to the summer Paralympic Games, athletes may register for multiple adaptive sports, which include cycling, indoor archery, outdoor archery, powerlifting, sitting volleyball, shooting, table tennis, track and field, wheelchair basketball, and, for the first time at the UCO Endeavor Games, paratriathlon. The paratriathlon will be limited to athletes over the age of 16 with previous paratriathlon experience. -
Deer Creek drops Carl Albert again for state title
They did it again.
The Deer Creek girls soccer team knocked off rival Carl Albert in the Class 5A state soccer title game for the second consecutive season.
The Lady Antlers, led by freshman Lauren Haivala’s two goals, topped the Titans 2-1 May 10 at Noble High School.
On May 7, Deer Creek blanked Tulsa Edison 2-zip in the semifinals for a chance to play for its fourth state championship in girls soccer. -
UCO to host US women's sitting volleyball team's exhibition matches against Russia
The University of Central Oklahoma will host five exhibition matches of the U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team versus the Russian National Women Sitting Volleyball Team beginning tonight at 10. Matches continue on Saturday at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. and a single match on Sunday at 9 a.m.
This will be the first time the Paralympic silver medaling Team USA has faced Russia since 2011. According to Head Coach Bill Hamiter, these matches will serve as preparation for the Sitting Volleyball World Championships in 2014.
Team USA will be available after each match to meet with fans and sign autographs.
All exhibition matches are free and open to the public. -
Impact-making Graves inks with OBU
When a basketball team goes 80-3 over the years a player was there, that athlete has made a profound impact on that particular program.
Not only did she/he leave a legacy athletically to have that type of success in Class 6A, but left a mark in a leadership capacity as well.
Cameerah Graves, Edmond Santa Fe’s standout guard who led 6A in assists her senior season with 129, signed a letter of intent with Oklahoma Baptist University last week. - More Sports Headlines
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