Upset Special, Part II

2/4/2012 5:33:00 PM

Paige Locke

Box Score

EDMOND (Feb. 4) – Paige Locke has seen limited playing time during her two-year career at Central Oklahoma, but the junior guard was ready when the Bronchos needed her the most Saturday afternoon.

Locke drilled a clutch 3-pointer with 2:07 left to play to ignite a game-ending 19-8 run that lifted UCO to its second straight home upset, this one a stunning 93-86 victory over No. 23-ranked Newman in a physical contest that saw 57 fouls called.

The Jets had turned a 17-point deficit (54-37) into a four-point lead (78-74) when Locke drained her trey from the corner to give the Bronchos the spark they needed. UCO went ahead to stay at 84-81 on Jill Bryan's conventional three-point play with 1:06 remaining and then iced it at the foul line, hitting 9-of-10 free throws the rest of the way.

The Bronchos, who knocked off No. 6 Northeastern State 77-71 in overtime last Saturday, improved to 14-8 with their fourth win in five outings. NU fell to 17-4.

“I'm real proud of this group,” UCO coach guy Hardaker said. “I felt like today we kept grinding. We had a hard time keeping them off the foul line today and that made it tough, but I felt like everybody was contributing. We have nine and all nine are playing and getting valuable minutes. It was a great win for us.”

Eight of UCO's nine players scored and five ended up in double figures, though three players fouled out and three others ended the game with four fouls apiece. The Bronchos ended up shooting 50.9 percent (29-of-57) from the field and 75.7 percent (28-of-37) from the line while blocking a school-record 14 shots.

Savannah Hamilton doubled her season total by rejecting seven of those shots to tie a school record and she also led the team in scoring (19) and rebounding (seven). Courtney Harper made 8-of-12 shots in finishing with 18 points, three assists, three blocks and three steals.

UCO also got 17 points and four assists from Bryan, 13 points from Heather Davis and a career-high 10 from Locke, who made both 3-point tries and all four free throw attempts in addition to blocking two shots and handing out two assists.

The Jets went 34-of-44 from the line (77.3 percent) and got 35 points from Satoria Bell, the second-leading scorer in Division II entering the game with a 23.6 average. She made 17 free throws in a Hamilton Field House-record 21 attempts.

The Bronchos never trailed in the first half and led by as many as eight (20-12) before NU came back to tie it at 26-all with 3:22 left. UCO ended the half with 10-2 run behind a pair of Rachel New layups, the final one coming with just three seconds remaining after a Harper steal to make it 36-28 at the break.

Harper had two layups and Bryan another in a 6-0 spurt to open the second half to make it 42-28 and the Bronchos eventually bumped their lead to 17 at 54-37 with Autumn Huffman converted a back-door layup off a Bryan feed with 14:20 to play.

Newman quickly started to chip away at that lead and used a 17-3 run to get within 57-54 at the 10:12 mark. A Locke 3-pointer at 9:10 helped UCO build the lead back to seven (63-56), but the Jets kept getting to the foul line and kept coming back.

NU finally took its first lead of the game at 72-70 on a Bell layup at 5:15 and the Jets had a four-point advantage three times, the final one at 78-74.

That's when Locke hit the corner trey to spark UCO's late surge.

Bryan followed Locke's shot with a pair of free throws at 1:32 to put the Bronchos ahead 79-78 and Hamilton's layup at 1:25 made it 81-78. Bell's three-point play at 1:19 tied it again and Bryan answered with one of her own at 1:06 to put UCO on top to stay, 84-81.

Locke got a block on the other end and made both free throws after being fouled to bump the lead to 86-81, but the Jets were within three at 89-86 after two Bell foul shots at 0:15.

Hamilton was fouled immediately and made both charity tosses to extend the lead to five and Davis ended the scoring at the line after being fouled while rebounding NU's last miss.

UCO doesn't play again until going to NSU next Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest.

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