by Chris Brannick
EDMOND – Central Oklahoma led a late lead slip away and lost control in a 72-68 setback to Northwest Missouri Thursday night at Hamilton Field House.
The Bronchos dropped to 6-9 overall on the season with the loss and are now 3-8 in MIAA play.
“We’re learning a lot about each other, how we want to play, what we’re capable of, but we still need to learn how to win the fourth quarter,” first-year head UCO women’s coach Emma Andrews said. “We’ve had three losses since New Year that got away from us at the end. You’d love to have those back. We have to learn from that.”
Central Oklahoma took a 61-58 lead with five minutes left in the game when Karly Wadsworth scored on a smooth backdoor layup thanks to a nifty pass from Tayler Factor.
Unfortunately for Central Oklahoma on Thursday night, Northwest closed the last five minutes on a 14-7 run to get out of town with the victory.
The Bearcats of Maryville, Missouri are just 8-7 overall this season and also 3-8 in league play following the win.
UCO went 2-for-9 from the floor, 0-for-3 from behind the 3-point line, and 3-for-5 from the free-throw line during the final five minutes. Northwest went 4-for-8 and made 6 of 7 attempts from the free-throw line to close it out.
Aspen Williston led the Bronchos with 21 points, five rebounds and five blocked shots. To her credit, she did all that in 17 minutes of play. To the benefit of Northwest Missouri, Williston only got 17 minutes of play due to foul trouble.
Williston went 9-for-15 from the floor Thursday night and was 3-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Brooke Rayner added 14 points, four rebounds and three assists. She went 3-for-4 from the floor and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. Her four points in the final minute cut an 8-point deficit to four.
Wadsworth also scored in double figures with 12 points. She went 4-for-12 from the floor overall, 1-for-3 from behind the arc, and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. She also had four rebounds and two assists.
Eliana Bravington added eight points off the bench to go with two rebounds and two blocked shots. Alayzha Knapp added six points off the bench, and Kassie Boorer score two.
Aliyah Llanusa posted three points to go with a team-high six rebounds, two steals and one assist. Lexi Foreman added two points, three rebounds and three assists.
UCO led 6-0 just two minutes into the action Thursday night. That would be the largest lead of the game for Central Oklahoma. The game was tied 12 times and there were nine lead changes before the final go ahead from Northwest in the final minutes.
Central Oklahoma shot 40 percent in the first quarter and hit one of its two 3-pointers for the entire game. Northwest led 22-17. UCO shot 40 percent again in the second quarter and didn’t attempt a 3-pointer. The Bronchos trailed just 38-36 at halftime.
UCO won the second quarter and came out of the half playing well. Central shot 63.6 percent in the third quarter, hitting the other 3-pointer for the game. The Bronchos forced a tie heading to the fourth quarter, 53-53. Unfortunately for UCO on Thursday night, Central went 5-for-15 in the fourth quarter, 0-for-3 from outside, and fell behind 19-15 in the frame before the final whistle sounded.
