Crusaders Respond to Early Run; Ozarks pulls away in 2nd and 3rd Quarters
CLARKSVILLE, Ark. – The University of Dallas women's basketball team was defeated 73-47 on Tuesday night at the University of the Ozarks. Dallas (1-3) dropped its second game in a row to finish the road trip at 1-2. Despite and early deficit, the Crusaders clawed back with a 7-0 run and eventually grabbed their lone lead of the night in the first quarter, 15-14.
The Eagles (3-3) improved to .500 and would get an old fashioned three-point play at the end of the period to go ahead for the night. They raced out to a huge halftime lead of 42-26 thanks to a 14-point difference in the second quarter. The struggles continued for Dallas in the third period, with the home team outscoring the Crusaders, 19-7.
Turnovers provided a factor in the game with the Eagles forcing 21 compared to 14 by UD. This led to 23 points off the miscues for Ozarks, while the Crusaders had eight.
Madi Horne (Paradise, Texas) netted a career-high 24 points off the bench to lead the Dallas offense. She went 9-of-18 from the field and hit three of the team's five three-pointers. Beyonce Perry (Lake Jackson, Texas) had the other pair of treys, which accounted for all six of her points on the evening.
Down 10-2 out of the gate through the first five minutes, Horne sparked a stretch of seven points in a row to nip the gap to one with 3:17. She had a layup, two free throws on different turns at the line, and then rattled in a three. After an apparent surge from the Eagles, Jules Oliveti (Southlake, Texas) passed an offensive rebound to Perry at the top of the three-point arc where she drained the trey to shrink the margin to 14-12 with a little over a minute left. After the Ozarks missed on the next possession, Horne grabbed the defensive rebound and hustled the length of the floor for a layup that was contested and missed. The freshman recovered and got a right corner trifecta to count for the go-ahead basket and first time UD led. After a turnover for the Eagles, UD could not add on to the lead and instead Kerigan Bradshaw made a layup and converted at the free throw line on the and-one with four ticks left in the quarter.
Neither team scored the first minute of the second quarter, but the Eagles would change that with an 11-2 run that had a trio of three-point shots hit over two minutes to force a UD timeout. Oliveti hit a jumper and Vanessa Diaz (San Antonio, Texas) knocked two free throws down to make it a 28-21 game before eight straight points pushed the Eagles out of reach again. A three by Horne with under two minutes made it a 10-point contest again (36-26), but a 6-0 run finished the first half for the Eagles.
After a disappointing third quarter, the Crusaders outscored their opponent for the first time this season in the last 10 minutes. It was more points in that single final quarter than in the other two road games on this current trip combined (12).
Horne made 10 points in the first quarter to put her on her way to becoming the first Dallas player to eclipse 20 points this campaign. Horne tied Diaz with seven rebounds to match team-bests. Diaz added a season-most 10 points. Oliveti had six points to go with five boards. Her three dimes were a team-best. The Crusaders did have more assists 11-9.
The Ozarks won the rebounding battle 48-32. This was helped by 15 offensive boards. Maegan Bandimere scored 19 points thanks to 7-for-11 shooting and 5-for-8 three-point shooting. Kamryn McKinney contributed 16 points. The Ozarks top scorer, Bradshaw, was limited to nine, although she dished seven assists. Hannah Weatherford grabbed nine rebounds and Abby Helmke hauled in seven from the bench.
The Ozarks shot 42.9 percent overall and had 10 three-pointers.
UP NEXT
Dallas is back home for the rest of 2019 with four games over nearly the next month. On Saturday, November 30, the Crusaders host non-conference foe Concordia University.