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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Avery Allen
73
Central Okla. CentOK 6-4,6-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate
76
Winner Emporia St. ESU 7-2,7-2 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Central Okla. CentOK
6-4,6-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate
73
Final
76
Emporia St. ESU
7-2,7-2 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Central Okla. CentOK 18 10 20 25 73
Emporia St. ESU 13 15 32 16 76

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Chris Brannick

Bronchos Tripped In Emporia

EMPORIA, Kan. – The University of Central Oklahoma women's basketball team missed a 3-pointer with two seconds left in the game and lost 76-73 at Emporia State Thursday night.
 
Jaci Littell had to put up a contested 3-pointer from the left wing and the shot rimmed out. Time expired as Kaci Richardson gathered the offensive rebound.
 
"We played well tonight but not well enough," UCO head coach Guy Hardaker said. "We didn't defend well and they got hot in the third quarter. We put ourselves in a hole we couldn't dig out of. But we'll move on from this and get ready for Saturday. Then we get these guys back at our place next week and we'll try to get them back then."
 
Avery Allen led all scorers with 18 points Thursday night – and 15 of those came in the third quarter. But it was that third quarter that doomed the Bronchos.
 
After coming out of halftime tied, 28-28, Emporia State caught fire in the third quarter. The Bronchos took a 43-40 lead with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter when Clary Donica knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Emporia State responded to that with a 15-0 run all on five 3-pointers. Central finally ended the drought but Emporia hit a sixth consecutive three on the next possession. The 18-3 run left the Bronchos in a 12-point deficit, 58-46.
 
Central charged back though, outscoring Emporia State 25-16 in the final quarter. But it ended up too little, too late.
 
Trailing 76-70 with just 20 seconds left, Brooke Rayner hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to three. On the next inbound, Aliyah Llanusa and Taylor Dement together forced a bad pass by Emporia State and got the ball back. With just over 11 seconds left, the Bronchos ran their final play that ended with a Littell miss from deep.
 
Allen's 18 points led the way and is a season-high for the redshirt freshman from Owasso, Oklahoma. Allen hit three 3-pointers, made three free-throws, and also dished out three assists.
 
Kelsey Johnson scored 13 points and had 10 rebounds to record another double-double. Littell and Rayner ended up with near identical stat lines of nine points and seven rebounds each.
 
Central Oklahoma will continue its road trip this weekend at Northwest Missouri Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The Bronchos return home to take on Emporia State again next Thursday at Hamilton Field House.
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