by Chris Brannick
EDMOND – Central Oklahoma fell behind early and despite a couple of late surges, the Bronchos couldn’t recover before falling 71-56 in an MIAA matchup against Missouri Western Saturday afternoon at Hamilton Field House.
Central Oklahoma is now 6-10 on the season and the Bronchos are 3-9 in league play.
“This goes back to us not playing four quarters,” first-year head women’s basketball coach Emma Andrews said. “Take away the first quarter and we played them very evenly, but you don’t get to do that. You have to play for four quarters and we’ve got to be focused on that.”
Central Oklahoma’s only lead of the game was 2-0. Brooke Rayner knocked down a jumper just 10 seconds into the contest Saturday. However, UCO trailed 10-2 with 6:53 to play in the first quarter. The 10-0 run by the visiting Griffons set the tone for the day.
UCO trailed 23-8 after the first quarter in which it shot 15.8 percent from the floor. The Bronchos made only 3 of 19 total shots.
Central did fight back though. The Bronchos outscored Missouri Western 17-13 in the second quarter and then 18-17 in the third quarter.
A 16-9 run in the third quarter, spanning a little more than six minutes, brought UCO to just four points. Karly Wadsworth got a layup plus the foul and after sinking the free-throw, the Bronchos were only down 45-41.
UCO missed two opportunities to cut to one possession there, then the deficit grew back to 10 points heading to the fourth quarter. At that point, Missouri Western outscored the Bronchos 18-12 in the final frame to pull away for the victory.
Aspen Williston led UCO on Saturday, scoring 17 points. She also had a team-high nine rebounds and four blocked shots. Williston was 8-for-16 in the game and 1-for-6 from the free-throw line.
