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EDMOND (Feb. 1) -- Cristina Yarbrough scored the final four points of the game and Central Oklahoma used clutch defense to overcome a huge rebounding deficit in knocking off Lone Star Conference North Division leader Northeastern State 77-74 Monday night at Hamilton Field House.
It was the fourth straight win for the Bronchos, who improved to 14-5 on the year and 5-1 in the North Division to move into a tie for the league lead with the RiverHawks (16-5, 5-1).
Yarbrough broke a 74-all tie on a layup off a nifty Rose Anderson pass with 31 seconds left and she upped the lead to 77-74 by making one of two free throws at 0:14 after Savannah Hamilton forced a turnover.
UCO then held on as NSU missed two 3-point tries in the final six seconds that would have forced overtime.
"We did a horrible job of rebounding, but thankfully we forced a lot of turnovers to help make up for it," UCO coach Guy Hardaker said. "It was a game we really needed to have and we found a way to win."
The Bronchos harassed the RiverHawks into 26 turnovers while making 15 steals, which helped negate NSU's dominating 47-22 advantage on the boards. UCO also shot 44.0 percent from 3-point range, hitting 11-of-25 shots from beyond the arc.
Jordan Stark led the Bronchos with 19 points while hitting five 3-pointers -- including four in the
second half -- and Yarbrough ended with 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals. Ashley Beckley also had 15 points, with Courtney Allen adding three treys and nine points off the bench.
It was a back-and-forth game from the outset, featuring 13 lead changes and 11 ties, and neither team led by more than seven points.
UCO was up 35-33 at intermission and took its biggest lead of the night at 57-50 on a Jill Bryan trey with 10:54 remaining, but the RiverHawks came back with a 12-2 run to go on top 62-59 at the 8:21 mark.
The Bronchos answered with six straight points -- four by Yarbrough and two by Hamilton -- to move in front 65-62 at 7:04, but NSU didn't go away and the game was tied at 65, 67, 69 and 71 before the RiverHawks hit a 3-pointer to take a 74-71 lead with 2:52 left to play.
Anderson made a driving layup after a Yarbrough steal to cut the deficit to 74-73 at 2:14 and a Brianne Grisham steal seconds later led to Yarbrough hitting one of two foul shots at 1:55 to tie it at 74. Yarbrough then scored three points in the final 31 seconds as UCO completed the comeback.
The RiverHawks jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the game and were up by six (29-23) with 5:37 left in the half, but UCO got last-minute 3-pointers from Stark and Yarbrough in taking its 35-33 halftime lead.
The Bronchos resume LSC North action Wednesday at Texas Woman's and then host the Pioneers Saturday at 2 p.m.