Bronchos Fall Short In Regional Finals

3/14/2011 9:44:05 PM

Alex Richardson

Box Score

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (March 13) – Battered Central Oklahoma put up a gallant fight, but fell short at the end against a deep Northwest Missouri squad here Monday night in the finals of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional.

The Bronchos -- down to eight players because of a rash of injuries both before and during the season – saw their spirited post-season run end with an 82-70 setback to the No. 19-ranked Bearcats, with the final score no indication of how close the game was.

UCO, which pulled off back-to-back upsets in making the finals, ended the season 22-10. NWMSU improved to 28-4 in advancing to next week's Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Mo.

The Bearcats pulled away in the final minutes of the rugged, contact-filled contest, outscoring UCO 14-6 in the last 4:14 to turn a precarious 66-64 lead into the final 12-point margin of victory.

“It was one of those real physical games and that got to us a little at the end,” UCO coach Guy Hardaker said. “Their size wore on us, physically and mentally and we had some open looks in the last five minutes that didn't go in.

“I'm really proud of my team. We overcame a lot this year and accomplished a lot more than anybody expected.”

Alex Richardson led the Bronchos with 28 points and 13 rebounds, making all eight of her free throw tries while going 10-of-20 from the field. Ashley Beckley ended her stellar career with 10 points – her 47th consecutive double-digit scoring game – and 10 rebounds in joining Richardson on the all-tournament team.

Kylie Mayes added eight points, Heather Davis and Alyssa Fuxa chipped in seven points apiece and Britney Morgan contributed eight assists and five points.

“Everybody overlooked us and nobody gave us any credit this year and I'm really proud of what we accomplished,” Beckley said. “I give full credit to them (NWMSU) for winning, but they knew they were in a battle.”

And a battle it was until the final minutes.

UCO trailed 38-35 at halftime and fell into a 50-40 hole five minutes into the second half, but Richardson responded with back-to-back layups and Autumn Huffman hit a 3-pointer from the wing to get the Bronchos within 50-47.

NWMSU pushed the lead to seven again at 62-55 with 8:09 left to play and again UCO got close, getting a layup from Huffman and a long 3-pointer from Fuxa to make it 62-60 at the 6:14 mark.

Richardson canned a jumper from the free throw line and made two foul shots to answer Bearcat buckets and keep the Bronchos within two at 66-64 with 4:35 remaining, but that's when UCO seemed to run out of steam.

The Bronchos missed their next four shots as NWMSU scored seven straight points to open up a 73-64 lead with 2:05 left. Heather Davis' layup made it 73-66 at 1:51, but the Bearcats pulled away at the line, hitting 7-of-8 charity shots in the final minute.

UCO battled the Bearcats on even terms in the opening 20 minutes, with NWMSU taking a 38-35 lead at the break on Gabby Curtis' bucket with 38 seconds left.

The Bronchos trailed by five at 15-10 nine minutes into the contest, but answered with an 11-3 run to move in front. Morgan hit UCO's only 3-pointer of the first half during that spurt and Richardson scored six points, the final two coming on a twisting layup in traffic that made it 21-18 with 7:21 remaining.

It was still a three-point lead (23-20) when Kylie Mayes coaxed in a short hook shot at the 6:05 mark and Mayes scored again with an eight-foot jumper at 4:35 to halt a 5-0 NWMSU run and tie it at 25-all.

Shelly Martin hit her second straight trey eight seconds later to put the Bearcats ahead 28-25 and Curtis' late bucket kept NWMSU's lead at three going into intermission.

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