Box Score WICHITA – Senior Shekeira Copeland's layup with 14 seconds remaining put the Newman women's basketball team up 50-48, and the Lady Jets hung on for a 50-49 win against Oklahoma Christian on Thursday (Feb. 27) on Senior Night. NU ended the regular season at 16-10 and 13-7 in the Heartland Conference, where they can finish as the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
 
After OC tied the game at 48-48 with 39 seconds remaining with two free throws, Copeland made a layup from the left block for a 50-48 NU advantage with 14 seconds left. Alexandra Ciabattoni got the assist, her game-high fifth of the game.
 
The Eagles' Logan McKee missed a 3-pointer with 8 seconds remaining, however, OC got the offensive rebound and Sydney Hill was fouled. Hill made the first free throw with 4 seconds remaining, but missed the second free throw and a chance to tie the game.
 
Ciabattoni missed the first free throw of a one-and-one with 3 seconds remaining. The Eagles called timeout after grabbing the rebound, but their last second 3-pointer missed, and NU hung on for the 50-49 win.
 
The Lady Jets erased a 13-point deficit in the second half. OC hit a jumper at the 17:28 mark to go up 32-19.
 
NU went on an 18-3 run over the next 10 minutes to go up 37-35 at the 7:05 mark. Ciabattoni gave NU its first lead since they were up 7-5 with 16:31 remaining in the first half.
 
After OC tied the score at 37-37 with 6:15 remaining, Ciabattoni hit a three-point play to put NU back up 40-37. The Eagles knotted the score at 40-40 with a 3, and Ciabattoni responded again with another three-point play with 3:51 left to go up 43-40. OC once again tied the score with a 3-pointer for a 43-43 score.
 
At the 3:02 mark, the Eagles regained the lead with a basket for a 45-43 score. A Copeland layup at 2:32 knotted the score at 45-45. After a free throw from OC, Ciabattoni went 3-of-4 in two separate trips to the free throw line to push NU to a 48-46 advantage with 1:39 remaining.
 
Two Eagle free throws with 39 seconds remaining tied the score at 48-48 before the Copeland game-winning layup.
 
Ciabattoni scored a game-high 18 points and added five rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block. Copeland added 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting. She also had five rebounds. Mali Wright pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
 
After shooting only 24.1 percent (7-29) in the first half, NU shot 40.7 percent (11-27) in the second half. For the game, the Lady Jets were 18-of-56 from the field (32.1 percent).
 
The NU defense held OC to 28.6 percent (8-28) shooting in the second half and 33.3 percent (17-51) shooting in the game.
 
The Lady Jets travel to Texas A&M International on Friday (March  7) for the Heartland Conference Tournament. Their opponent and seed will be determined after this weekend's games.