LAWTON – The cold shooting Aggies were on the wrong side of a buzzer-beater win as Central Oklahoma came into the Aggie Gym on Tuesday night and handed CU their first home loss of the season.
The Cameron women's basketball offense has been firing on all cylinders to start the season, averaging over 87 points per game during their first five contests. However, that was not the case on Tuesday, as the Bronchos held the home team to under 33 percent shooting from the field and 23 percent from three. Despite the poor shooting, CU had a chance at the win late, but it was UCO who got to celebrate a 65-63 buzzer-beater win on the road.
In the box score, the Bronchos controlled most every category. They shot better from the field (37.5 percent), outrebounded the Aggies 51-37, and got to the foul line seven more times than the home team. However, the Black and Gold's patented pressure kept the game close as they forced UCO into 21 turnovers with 13 coming on steals.
Cameron relied heavily on their starting five against UCO, with four of the five playing over 27 minutes and scoring over 10 points.
Maighan Hedge finished the night with 19 points, but shot just 6-20 from the field, including 2-9 from three. The normally efficient fourth-year guard also had four assists and three steals for CU.
Stephanie Peterson and
Whitney Outon each had 14 points and seven rebounds, while Peterson tied a career-best with six steals and added four assists as well.
Korie Allensworth added 11 points, making it six straight games in double-figures for the newcomer from Sulphur, Okla. Allensworth also had seven boards and two steals. No other Aggie had more than three points.
The Aggies, who are one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country were cold to start Tuesday's game, going 1-8 from long range in the opening frame. That allowed the Bronchos to pull out to a 17-15 lead after 10 minutes of play.
Cameron started to catch fire from the perimeter in the second, going 5-11 from three, but were still just 37 percent from the field. However, on the other side of the floor, UCO shot just 17 percent from the floor and were 1-6 from three in the quarter as CU pulled ahead with a 33-29 lead at the halftime break.
Another cold 10 minutes of play in the third (1-8 from three) led to the Bronchos pulling to within one point heading into the final frame. Hedge had nine of CU's 17 points in the quarter with four coming from the foul line.
Central Oklahoma kept pushing and tied the game at 51 with 7:03 left in the game. They then took the lead and extended it to four on a Kelsi Johnson made free throw, one of her team-high 21 points. The two teams traded scores until the Aggies strung together a couple of stops and then took back the lead 63-62 on a made layup by Hedge with 42 seconds to play.
After a missed shot out of a timeout, Johnson grabbed the offensive board to give UCO another chance at tying the game or taking back the lead. They did the first as Aliyah Llanusa drew a foul and made one of two at the line, tying it at 63 with less than 20 ticks on the clock.
Cameron called a timeout after the free throw with
Emma Andrews looking to draw something up to try and win the team's fifth game of the year. The ball was in Hedge's hand, but after a couple failed attempts at the drive, she kicked it to
Karley Miller, who took a chance at a long-three that bounced off the front iron.
Unfortunately for CU, UCO grabbed the defensive board with 1.7 seconds on the clock and called a timeout looking for their chance at the win. Like they had been doing, the Bronchos staff called up a play to feed Johnson in the post, who made a turnaround jumper from about five feet with time expiring to come away with the two-point win.
Johnson finished with 21 points on 14 shoots and 16 rebounds. She was one of three Bronchos in double-figures.
Cameron, now 4-2 on the year, face another tough in-state foe on Wednesday as they host Southwestern Oklahoma State, who is ranked No. 16 in the D2SIDA poll. Tip-off for the pre-Thanksgiving battle is set for 3 p.m. in the Aggie Gym.
