Lady Eagles can’t sustain rally, fall 91-68 to Shawnee State

Katy Clift scored 18 points to lead Oklahoma Christian in a 91-68 loss to Shawnee State (Ohio).

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 19, 2011) – Abby Ballman had 26 points and eight rebounds and Alex Pohl had 25 points and nine rebounds as No. 6-ranked Shawnee State (Ohio) survived a second-half rally by Oklahoma Christian to win 91-68 on Monday at the Ocean Center in the Daytona Beach Shootout.

Katy Clift hit five 3-pointers and scored 18 points to lead Oklahoma Christian (5-5), which cut a 19-point deficit to six late in the first half but couldn’t sustain its comeback after halftime.

Shawnee State (11-2) gave coach Robin Hagen-Smith her 601st career win, tops among active NAIA Division I coaches. OC coach Stephanie Findley is second on that list with 517 wins.

Not much went right for the Lady Eagles early on, as Shawnee State hit its first six 3-point attempts. The Bears raced to a 36-17 lead, going ahead by 19 points on a layup by Erin Dailey with 8:31 left before halftime.

A bucket by Roz Hamilton started a 20-7 run for OC and Carli Covalt pulled the Lady Eagles within 43-37 with 2:07 left in the half.

Shawnee State restored its lead to double digits at 47-37 by halftime and the Wolves opened the second half on a 13-4 run to restore their lead to 19 points at 60-41 with 15:21 left. The Lady Eagles came no closer than 15 points the rest of the way, committing 15 of their 25 turnovers after halftime.

“We gave good effort but Shawnee State is a very good team,” Findley said. “You can’t give them extra possessions and expect to do well.”

Shawnee State shot 46.9 percent from the field (30 of 64), including 45.8 percent from 3-point range (11 of 24).  Ballman went 5-of-7 from behind the arc.

OC shot 40 percent from the field (24 of 60). Katy O’Steen added 12 points and six rebounds for the Lady Eagles.

OC will play St. Thomas (Fla.) in the event on Tuesday afternoon.

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