Box Score
STERLING, Kan. – The Lady Braves fell, 72-66 to the no. 14 Sterling College Warriors on Wednesday night at the Gleason Center. It is OU’s fourth straight loss to the Warriors at the Gleason Center. 

The Lady Braves opened the contest attacking the Warrior pressure and took a 16-9 just five minutes in. Sterling went on a mini run and cut the OU lead to one point, 16-15 at the 13:10 mark. The Lady Braves though scored four straight points and increased their lead to five, 20-15 with 12:24 left in the half. Ottawa only allowed two Sterling Warrior points in the next three minutes and upped its lead to eight, 25-17. A cold spell entered the Gleason Center for the Lady Braves. OU didn’t score a point for the next four minutes until Mallory Mueller broke the scoreless streak with a basket at the 4:47 mark to give OU a four point lead, 27-23. In the final four minutes of the half the two teams exchanged baskets with OU scoring 12 points and Sterling tallying 10. Ottawa continued to hold its lead by hitting 62 percent of its shots and took a 41-33 lead at the half. 

Misty Stone opened the second half with a bucket to give OU a 10 point lead 43-33. Sterling though scored the next five points and with 18:06 left in regulation OU’s lead was now five points, 43-38. Sterling continued its run cutting the Lady Brave lead to one point, 43-42. KiKi Smith ended the scoreless streak for Ottawa with a layup, putting OU up by three, 45-42 at the 15:45 mark. Sterling cut the lead again to one point, 45-44 on its next offensive possession with Cathryn Wiebe’s third straight basket of the second half. Sterling took its first lead of the game at the 14:11 mark and then scored the next five points to take a 49-45 lead on the Lady Braves. Kylie Covey scored at the 12:08 mark to stop a three minute scoreless streak by Ottawa and cutting the deficit to two points, 49-47. 

The Warriors continued to hold its slight lead over the and with 9:18 left in the game SC had a three point lead, 55-52. Taryn Morris tied the game with a three at the top of the key, 55-55 with 8:57 on the clock. For the next two minutes both teams went scoreless. Sterling though broke the steak by scoring five straight points and taking a 60-55 lead on OU at the 6:20 mark. Maggie Hasenkamp’s three at the 5:55 mark cut the deficit to two points, 58-60 but Sterling answered that by scoring the next five points and taking a 65-58 lead. The Lady Braves came up with back-to-back defensive stops and after a free throw and a bucket by Smith OU cut the deficit to four points, 65-61 at the 3:35 mark. After a Warrior basket making the score, 67-61, Stone connected on two free throws cutting the SC lead to four, 67-63. Sterling though answered with a three point field goal at the 1:45 mark. Four points would be all the closer OU would get as Sterling took the victory, 72-66. 

For the game OU shot 42.4 percent from the floor, 25-59 while Sterling was 27-63 for 42.9 percent. The Lady Braves out rebounded SC 46-33 and had 18 offensive rebounds. 

OU had two players in double figures led by Stone’s 12 points and 11 rebounds. Covey tallied 10 points and had a team high seven offensive rebounds. Smith led OU with four assists. 

Up next for the Lady Braves (3-16, 2-6) is the second round of conference play. OU will travel to North Newton, Kan. to play Bethel College. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. in Thresher Gymnasium.