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EDMOND (Jan. 9) -- Central Oklahoma overcame a big early deficit to take a 10-point second-half lead, but the injury-plagued Bronchos couldn't stay with No. 12-ranked West Texas A&M in the end Saturday afternoon at Hamilton Field House in dropping a 78-67 Lone Star Conference crossover decision.
UCO fell behind 15-1 in the opening minutes, rallied to tie it at 34-all by halftime and opened the second half with a 10-0 run to grab a 44-34 lead before the Lady Buffs came back to pull out their 10th straight win.
The Bronchos fell to 9-4 in having a five-game winning streak snapped and lost for the eighth straight time to WTAMU, which improved to 16-1 on the season.
The Bronchos were without one starter entering the game and lost another in the first half. Kasey Tweed was out with a knee injury suffered in Thursday's win over Eastern New Mexico, while leading scorer Ashley Beckley was limited to three points in seven minutes before going out with a twisted ankle.
“We got off to a horrible start and then did a great job battling back to get in the game,” head coach Guy Hardaker said. “Obviously it hurt not having Kasey and then losing Ashley, but that's no excuse and we didn't play well enough to win in the last 15 minutes of the game.”
Rose Anderson led UCO with 17 points, six steals and five assists, while Cristina Yarbrough had 12 points and six rebounds and Brianne Grisham a season-high 11 points off the bench.
The Bronchos had no answer for WTAMU's Jamie Simmons, who made 10-of-14 shots and 12-of-20 free throws in scoring 32 points while also pulling down 11 rebounds and blocking three shots.
Simmons had seven points in the first four minutes and UCO missed its first six shots of the game as the Lady Buffs charged to a 15-1 lead, with Anderson making the Bronchos' first field goal at the 15:22 mark to make it 15-3.
It was a still a nine-point deficit at 26-17 with 7:27 remaining, but UCO got 3-pointers from Yarbrough and Grisham in a 10-2 spurt that cut WTAMU's lead to 28-27 at 3:11. The Bronchos finally pulled even at 32 on a Savannah Hamilton jumped with 1:37 left and she hit another short shot at 1:02 to make it 34-34 headed to intermission.
UCO then surged in front for the first time in the opening minutes of the second half, forcing three quick turnovers in a 10-0 run that featured treys by Courtney Allen and Jordan Stark and a pair of Yarbrough layups to take a 44-34 lead.
WTAMU answered right back with 11 unanswered points to go on top 45-44 before Alyssa Fuxa ended UCO's drought with a layup that gave the Bronchos a 46-45 lead with 14:55 left to play. The Lady Buffs then scored the next six points to grab the lead for good at 51-46.
The Bronchos got within one a couple of times in the next two minutes (51-50 and 54-53), but WTAMU stretched its lead to nine (65-56) at the 6:18 mark and UCO couldn't recover.
Central Oklahoma opens defense of its LSC North Division title Wednesday at East Central before returning home next Saturday to host Southeastern Oklahoma at 6 p.m.
