OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University routed St. Gregory’s 83-50 on Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena.
Donica Cosby, a senior from Coldwater, Miss., topped the Stars with 18 points. OCU, ranked second in NAIA Division I women’s basketball, improved to 21-2, 16-2 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
OCU blew the game open with a 12-0 splurge during the second half. St. Gregory’s went scoreless for 6:07 as the Stars built a 68-31 advantage.
K.J. Johnson started OCU’s run with a transition bucket with 13:31 remaining in the game. Kayla McKenzie continued the Stars spree with a 3-point play to double up St. Gregory’s 62-31.
Starr Fairbanks’ putback finished up the run, putting OCU up 68-31 with 8:03 left in the game.
“Our kids looked really, really good in the second half,” OCU coach Rob Edmisson said. “It was suffocating defense. We’re headed where we want to be.”
OCU pulled away from an early 8-8 tie by scoring nine consecutive points. McKenzie assisted on Cosby’s lay-in, then stuck a jumper of her own to put the Stars up 17-8 with 11:12 left in the first.
“I thought our kids came out a little flat-footed,” Edmisson said. “Our energy picked up, though. We charted 27 deflections in the first half.”
The Stars’ Lauren Gober, a sophomore from Newcastle, Okla., notched her first double-double of the season with 11 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Gober picked up her second double-double of her career. She had 13 points and 10 rebounds against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Feb. 11, 2010 at Abe Lemons Arena.
“She’s becoming a complete player,” Edmisson said of Gober. “When she hasn’t shot the ball well, she can struggle, but tonight I counted she stole three rebounds in transition.”
Tiffany Goldwire added seven rebounds for OCU, while Taylor Booze chipped in a team-high five assists. Fairbanks contributed eight points, three rebounds and three steals.
The Stars grabbed 40 rebounds, handed out 22 assists and nabbed 12 thefts as a team. St. Gregory’s managed 26 rebounds. OCU built advantages in points in the paint (40-18), points off turnovers (25-11), bench points (37-14) and fastbreak points (12-6).
OCU led by as many as 44 points. Cosby had a 3-point play to give the Stars an 81-37 cushion.
“We got to play a lot of girls a lot of minutes,” Edmisson said. “Cara Pugh and Chasity Workman played a lot of minutes. Everybody contributed something.”
OCU faces Oklahoma Baptist at 6 p.m. Saturday in Shawnee, Okla.
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