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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Melinda Murillo
68
Southwest Baptist SBU 7-2, 0-1 MIAA
85
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 8-1, 3-1 MIAA
Southwest Baptist SBU
7-2, 0-1 MIAA
68
Final
85
Central Oklahoma UCO
8-1, 3-1 MIAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Southwest Baptist SBU 11 18 23 16 68
Central Oklahoma UCO 24 24 19 18 85

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Chris Brannick

UCO whips Southwest Baptist

EDMOND – Playing in front it their home fans for the first time this season, 25th-ranked Central Oklahoma cruised to an 85-68 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association win over Southwest Baptist at Hamilton Field House Thursday night.
 
An offensive onslaught from Blake Blessington and Melinda Murillo helped the Bronchos build a big lead – 18-2 in the first quarter after five minutes – and Central never looked back. The Bronchos led by as many as 23 in the second quarter on their way to their third conference win in a week. Central improves to 8-1 on the season and 3-1 in MIAA play.
 
"Well it was good to finally play a home game and I think you could tell the team was more comfortable," UCO head coach Guy Hardaker said. "I'm pretty happy though with the way they came out and everybody got involved. Once you see the ball going in, then you can just kind of relax a bit, and we tried to get easy shots to try and get that going."
 
Blessington led the Bronchos with 18 points on 7 of 14 shooting. The junior guard added six rebounds and three assists. Murillo had 16 points on 5 of 14 shooting. Both hit two 3-pointers on the night. Murillo added seven assists and seven rebounds.
 
"Melinda is our leading scorer this season, and everybody knows that," Harkdaker said. "To see her working to get her teammates involved the way she did tonight was great. She had a great game. And we got a lot of good production from a lot of different people because of that."
 
UCO shot 44 percent from the floor Thursday night and had four players score in double figures. Madison Lee notched a season-high 10 points. Ireon Smith also had 10, and nearly had a double-double off the bench, as the sophomore added seven rebounds.
 
Central's post players all had dominant performances. Jesheon Cooper had seven points and 10 rebounds, as well as a block. And Megan Womack had six points and eight rebounds off the bench.
 
Southwest Baptist never got closer than 12 as the eighth-best scoring offense in the country couldn't get past the stingy Broncho defense, scoring almost 20 points less than its season average.
 
Central, which played eight-straight road games to start the season, will be home until Jan. 10. The Bronchos return to the court Saturday to host Arkansas-Fort Smith.
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