Box Score
CANYON, Texas (March 12) – Turnover-prone Central Oklahoma saw its season ended by an old rival here Friday afternoon as the Bronchos dropped a 54-52 decision to Northeastern State in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional.
Sixth-seeded UCO committed a season-high 27 turnovers in falling for the second time in three meetings this season to the No. 3-seeded RiverHawks, who advanced to Saturday’s semifinals against the winner of the Washburn-Central Missouri game.
The Bronchos had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds while trailing 52-49, but Cristina Yarbrough’s 3-point try from the top of the key with five seconds left was just off the mark. NSU was fouled getting the rebound and made two free throws at 0:02 to negate Yarbrough’s 40-foot trey that swished through at the final buzzer.
UCO, in the national tournament for the third straight year, finished the season 22-8.
“We just made too many mistakes and turned the ball over too much,” UCO coach Guy Hardaker said. “We did a nice job against them defensively, but you can’t turn the ball over like that and expect to win against good teams.
“It was a good season and I’m really proud of our girls for fighting through some adversity this year.”
It was the lowest-scoring game of the season for the Bronchos, who entered the contest ranked 11th in the country with a 78.7 scoring average.
Ashley Beckley led UCO with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Yarbrough added 10 points and three assists and freshman Jill Bryan provided a big spark off the bench by hitting all of her shots in tying a career-high with 10 points.
There were seven ties and six lead changes in a rugged first half that ended with UCO on top 21-19 and the Bronchos stretched that to 25-19 early in the second half on a Beckley jumper and Jordan Stark layup.
NSU came back to take a 30-29 lead at the 13:25 mark, but the Bronchos answered with a 9-2 run to grab a 38-32 advantage with 7:05 remaining as Bryan and Rose Anderson had three-point plays.
The RiverHawks rallied again, outscoring UCO 13-3 over the next four minutes to surge in front 49-43 with 2:51 to play. Anderson hit a 3-pointer at 2:08 to make it 49-46 and neither team scored again until NSU made two free throws at 1:01 for a 51-46 lead.
Yarbrough then drained a trey with 41 seconds left to cut the deficit to 51-49 and the RiverHawks made one of two free throws at 0:22 to make it 52-49 and set up the finish.
It was the final game for four UCO seniors – Anderson, Yarbrough, Brianne Grisham and Traci Murphree.