SHAWNEE, Okla. – The second-ranked OCU women’s basketball team romped on the road as they took care of St. Gregory’s 95-35 on Saturday.
Lauren Gober, a sophomore from Newcastle, Okla., was a perfect 6-for-6 from the 3-point line and ended as the game’s leading scorer with 24 points. Gober also added six rebounds two assists, two steals and a block in the win.
“You’ve got to keep reminding yourself she’s just a sophomore, but when she gets in a stretch like that it’s almost shocking if she misses a shot,” OCU coach Rob Edmisson said. “The thing she is actually doing well is she’s hitting some midrange shots too it’s not just all threes, and she’s constantly every game getting her hands on the ball more than any kid, deflecting the ball and causing turnovers. She’s becoming one of my most consistent players no doubt.”
OCU got 13 points from Starr Fairbanks, a senior from Cincinnati, and 10 from Desiree Jeffries, a sophomore from Oklahoma City. Donica Cosby, a senior from Coldwater, Miss., has a team-high five assists and Taylor Booze, a junior from Duncanville, Texas, came up with a team-high five steals for the Stars.
OCU moves to 17-0, 12-0 and for the second consecutive contest, every OCU player scored points.
“It just seems like we’ve kind of started developing a pattern where we just kind of start wearing you down,” OCU coach Rob Edmisson said. “As the game got longer, we got stronger.
“I really just like the way the team is playing together and unselfish. They’re a fun bunch.”
Gober nearly outscored the Cavaliers single-handedly in the first half. She ended the first half with 21 points on 5-of-5 shooting from 3-point range, while St. Gregory’s had 24 at the midpoint break.
“I just kept the shot when I was open, and I really didn’t think about it,” Gober said. “If I was open I shot it, and if not I gave it to someone else who was open.”
St. Gregory’s kept the game close in the opening minutes, trailing by three after a layup by Leticia Silva put the score at 15-12 in favor of the Stars 7:21 into action. The tides turned from that point forward as OCU roared back with a 12-0 run as they held St. Gregory’s scoreless for over five minutes. The Stars finished the half with an 8-0 run including a 3-pointerby Gober in the final seconds and OCU owned a 49-24 advantage at halftime.
OCU started the second half with stingy defense and an 18-3 run to get the score to 67-27 with 14:06 to play. The Stars only allowed on basket in the final eight minutes of play. The Cavaliers only managed 11 points of offense in the final 20 minutes of play. In total, the Stars forced 34 turnovers and gobbled up 15 steals on the way to the rout.
“Offense is important, but to us it’s about defense so holding them to 35 was a big accomplishment,” Gober said. “It’s just about how bad you want the ball, getting in the passing lanes and making it hard for the offense to move the ball around. It gets them flustered. It’s easy to score points when you can steal it and just score layups all day.”
We try to play every possession to where you’re not going to score,” Edmisson said. “Our kids really have a defensive mentality. Because of our defensive pressure, when we get you tired it even gets harder.
“Our kids are athletic and they cover space quickly so if we can get you to play fast and get you to play where you have to make quick decisions it’s not good. We’re stealing the ball high and creating turnovers and getting 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 fast breaks. You can’t guard that.”
OCU heads to Texas for a pair of road games. The Stars play at Lubbock Christian (Texas) on Thursday at 6 p.m.
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