OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Cameron women's basketball team used some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch at Oklahoma Christian to secure their second straight win, defeating the Eagles 79-71; freshman Stephanie Peterson led the way with 18 points while going 11-13 from the charity stripe.

Peterson was one of the key contributors down the stretch for the Black and Gold, who trailed by four at the end of the first half. The freshman from Broomfield, Colo. finished one point shy of her career-high while going 3-5 from the field and 11-13 from the free throw line. Peterson scored 12 of her 18 points in the final quarter and had four rebounds, three assists, and tied a career-best with five steals in the win.

Michaela James added a career high 13 points, eight of which came in the first half, as the freshman shot 4-6 from the field while knocking down a trio of triples. Whitney Outon had a strong all-around game, tying her career-high with 12 points while grabbing seven rebounds, recording four assists, and blocks a pair of Eagle shots.

Ava Battese added 10 points, all coming in the final 20 minutes of action, while the conference's leading scorer Maighan Hedge was held to just eight points on 2-9 shooting from the field. Hedge, who is averaging 20.1 points per game this season, was held under 10 points for just the third time this season.

As a team, Cameron shot just 34.4 percent from the field and was 13-36 from long range. However, they made a season-high 24 foul shots and turned OC over 21 times, 10 of which game on steals. The Aggies were out-rebounded 46-43, but made up for it with 23 fast break points.

After Oklahoma Christian took an early 6-2 lead in the first quarter, CU used a pair of Outon triples to take their first lead of the game, 8-6 with 5:05 on the clock. The two teams then traded a pair of buckets in the final minutes of the frame, with the Aggies on top 13-11 at the end of a sloppy first period that saw the teams combine for 13 turnovers.

In the second, the home team Eagles outscored the Aggies 24-18 with 16 of those points coming from beyond the three-point arc. Cameron made just five field goals in the frame, three of which were triples, as they trailed 35-31 at halftime.

The Black and Gold shot just 29.4 percent from the field in the first half, going 6-21 from three and 5-8 from the charity stripe. Both teams had 11 giveaways at the break, while OC had the slight rebounding advantage 26-24.

James led CU with eight points on 2-3 shooting at the half, while Outon and Peterson each had six points for the Aggies.  

Cameron came out firing in the third quarter and thanks to a pair of treys from Ava Battese, they tied the game up at 42 heading into the five-minute media timeout. Battese hit another triple in the frame, giving her three, while CU shot 6-11 from long range in the frame. A Logan Collyer triple in the final seconds gave her team a 56-49 lead over the Eagles heading into the final frame.

In the fourth quarter, OC came out and scored four straight to cut the deficit to three, but another three from Collyer and two foul shots from Peterson stretched the CU lead back out to eight with 7:13 on the clock. The two teams battled back and forth, but free throws seemed to be the difference in the final frame as Cameron was 12-16 from the foul line in the final 10 minutes and the Eagles were just 5-11.

A pair of foul shots from Outon gave CU their largest lead of the contest, 74-65, with just 30 seconds on the clock. OC got a three from Kendall Blackburn to cut the deficit to six, but CU continued to make their foul shots down the stretch with Peterson going 5-6 from the line in the final seconds to secure the 79-71 Aggie win; Peterson was 10-11 from the foul line in the fourth quarter alone.

Maddison Collyer led the Oklahoma Christian Eagles with 13 points and 12 assists while going 5-12 from the field in the loss. OC shot 38 percent from the floor as a team, going 10-28 from three and just 13-22 from the charity stripe.

The now 7-11 Aggies improve to .500 in both Lone Star Conference play (6-6) and divisional play (3-3) with the win. CU returns home on a two-game winning streak and will face Texas A&M International on Thursday, Jan. 30, in the two programs first LSC battle in the Aggie Gym.