Box Score
CANYON, Texas (March 13) -- For the second straight year, Central Oklahoma was forced to overtime in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional. And for the second straight year, the Bronchos prevailed on a last-second shot.
This time it was Cristina Yarbrough doing the honors as the junior guard made a driving layup with 1.5 seconds remaining to cap a game-ending 6-0 run that vaulted the No. 15-ranked Bronchos past Southeastern Oklahoma 68-66 here Friday afternoon in a thrilling back-and-forth contest.
UCO, which beat St. Mary's 75-73 in OT on Karlie Free's late bucket last year, won for a school-record 26th time in improving to 26-5 and moving into Saturday's semifinals against No. 8 Washburn, which routed Incarnate Word 57-38.
“We knew it would be a battle and that they weren't going to let us run anything like we wanted to,” said UCO coach Guy Hardaker, whose team split two regular-season Lone Star Conference North Division games with the Savage Storm. “It was a tough, tough game, but we made some big plays at the end and we're happy to still be playing.”
The Savage Storm tied the game at 62-all and forced overtime on an Elizabeth Dean layup with two seconds left in regulation and took a 66-62 lead in the extra session before UCO rallied.
Ashley Beckley started the comeback with a blocked shot that led to a fast-break and a foul on Yarbrough, who made both free throws to draw the Bronchos within 66-64 at the 2:12 mark. Rose Anderson rebounded a missed shot a minute later and went coast-to-coast to score the tying bucket with 1:00 left.
Yarbrough then rebounded another SOSU miss with 29 seconds left and UCO called timeout. It was Yarbrough all the way on the inbounds as the junior guard dribbled off most of the clock before driving inside for the winning layup.
“We stayed poised in the overtime and kept our heads in the game,” Beckley said. “It's hard to play a good team three times like that and we're happy we came out on top.”
Anderson led the Bronchos, hitting 8-of-13 shots in finishing with 19 points -- her second-highest total of the season -- while adding five rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Beckley finished with 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds and Yarbrough ended with 10 points and five boards. Leading scorer and rebounder Lizzie Brenner was plagued by foul trouble and was held to seven points and six rebounds.
The Bronchos struggled with their shooting again, hitting only 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from 3-point range and 17-of-26 (65.4 percent) from the free throw line.
UCO used an 8-0 run to take a 10-3 lead early in the game and it became a double-digit advantage at 19-8 on an Anderson three-point play seven minutes in. It was a 10-point lead (32-22) after Beckley made one of two free throws with 3:17 left, but SOSU got within six (34-28) by intermission.
A Brenner layup had UCO on top by seven (43-36) before the Savage Storm used an 8-0 run to surge in front 44-43. The Bronchos came back a few minutes later with an 8-0 spurt of their own to take a 60-54 lead with 4:14 left in regulation on Traci Murphree's short jumper.
SOSU answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to tie it and then Beckley put UCO up 62-60 on a layup with 1:23 to go, with Dean's late goal forcing overtime.
