WICHITA, Kan. — Four players scored in double figures and a pair hit the 20-point plateau as the Newman women's basketball team turned in an 81-61 victory over Oklahoma Christian to win their second straight game in Heartland Conference action.
KEY SEQUENCE
The Jets (9-6, 3-4 Heartland) were up by double digits for most of the game, but the Eagles (7-10, 4-3 Heartland) inched their way back into it by scoring seven of the first nine points of the second half. Newman responded with a 9-0 run, with buckets from Lizzy Harrison, Mali Wright, Cierra Tjaden and a 3-pointer from Shaunice Robinson to cap things off and send the Jets to the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-A 3-pointer from the Eagles less than a minute in lifted them to their only lead of the game at 3-2, but it didn't take long for the Jets to respond, embarking on a 20-3 run over much of the rest of the first quarter to stake themselves to a big lead early.
-A jumper by Wright, a junior, made it 4-3 just over two minutes into the game and gave the hosts the lead for good. Four points each out of Wright and Robinson, a junior, followed by a Melanie George free throw and another Robinson layup, made it 15-4 with 3:45 to go in the first.
-Freshman Iva Krstevska followed OC's second basket of the game with one of her own, and a 3-pointer out of junior Brianna Caldwell and a fourth basket of the first nine minutes from Robinson made it 22-6 with 1:11 left in the opening period.
-The Eagles closed the gap to 10 points by the end of the quarter, and did so again just over two minutes into the second frame, but buckets from Wright and George bookended another Caldwell trey to bump the lead back to 17 at 32-15 with 6:30 to go in the half.
-Layups out of Wright and Robinson pushed the lead back out to 16 after the Eagles went on a short run, and a jumper from Harrison, a senior, made it a 15-point edge at the break.
-Robinson's big three to cap the 9-0 run that all but sealed things for the Jets came with 5:32 left in the third quarter, and another run late in the quarter revolved around baskets from Robinson and Wright, and was punctuated by a 3-pointer out of Harrison to make it 60-40 with less than a minute to play in the third.
-OC would get as close as 14 a few minutes into the fourth quarter, but Newman would stretch the lead again, with junior Natalia Hausmann hitting a 3-pointer to make it 76-54 with 2:24 to play, and converting a traditional three-point play with 15 seconds left to bump the advantage to 81-58.
NOTES
-Wright finished one rebound short of a second straight double-double, putting up 20 points and nine boards. Robinson did her one better in points, netting 21 on 9-of-10 shooting to go with four rebounds, four assists and a steal.
-It was Robinson's third game in her last four scoring at least 18 points, which has upped her season average to 12.5 ppg. The senior's scoring seems to be back after averaging 15.5 ppg and scoring in double digits in each of the Jets' first four games of the season. In fact, Newman is 7-2 in the nine games Robinson has scored in double figures.
-Harrison earned her fifth start of the season and played a career-high 24 minutes to score a career-high 10 points. The senior shot 4-of-5 from the floor and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, and dished out two assists as the main replacement for junior Erica Olerich.
-Freshman Bria DeGrate made her second consecutive start and played 20-plus minutes for the third straight game, collecting six poings to go with two assists and a rebound.
-The Jets' 81 points were the most the team has scored since a 90-62 win over Central Christian on Dec. 1, 2014. Newman also set offensive season highs in field goals made (34), shooting percentage (55.7) and 3-point shooting percentage (41.2). The 55.7 shooting percentage is the best in a game since shooting 56.6 percent against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Dec. 2, 2013.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets have a week off before continuing their three-game homestand Jan. 21 against Rogers State back at Fugate Gymnasium.
