Clarksville, Ark.-After holding a slight 34-26 edge at halftime, Hendrix College shot 58 percent from the field and outscored the Lady Eagles 42-27 in the second half to earn a 76-53 non-conference victory on Monday night.
The Warriors (7-3, 1-1) raced out to an early lead in the first half, but Ozarks (1-8, 1-3) eventually found their rhythm and chiseled into a 10-point deficit. It was an Olivia Fisher jumper that closed the gap to 19-17 at the 6:03 mark. Two minutes later, Emma Cantele cut it to 23-22 when she hit a pair of free throws. Hendrix, however, then went on a 10-4 spurt to take a 34-26 lead into intermission.
Hendrix would build on their 8-point advantage, and increase it to 41-26 at the 17:48 mark of the second half. The Warriors would maintain a double-digit advantage over the next four minutes before the Lady Eagles would make a run. Savannah Carter made a layup to make it 46-37 with 13:29 left. At the 10:51 mark, Emma Bottorff nailed a three-pointer to narrow Ozarks’ deficit to 48-40. Hendrix then answered with 10-2 run over the next three minutes to go up 60-44. Ozarks had trouble getting back into the game, as Hendrix hit 14-of-24 (58%) from the floor in the second half. Ozarks, meanwhile, hit only 9-of-27 (33%) from the field in the final twenty minutes of action. Making matters more difficult for the Lady Eagles was Christina Byler, who scored 35 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Hendrix.
Fisher led Ozarks with 12 points, and Carter added 11.
Ozarks will travel to Abilene, Texas, to face Hardin-Simmons University on January 3 and McMurry University of January 5 in American Southwest Conference play.
Topics: Athletics