OKLAHOMA CITY -- The No. 5-ranked Oklahoma City University Stars pulled away in the first half and coasted to a 67-47 win over the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels in the home finale for the Lady Evangels Thursday evening (Feb. 27) inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
The loss snaps the Lady Evangels four-game winning streak and drops them to 17-11 overall and 11-8 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
Ashlee Ferguson picked up where she left off last Saturday with 10 early points to help the Lady Evangels jump out to an early 13-8 lead.
The Stars (20-3, 17-2 SAC) fought back when a three by Cara Pugh ignited a 10-2 spurt that gave OCU a two-point lead.
Following a three by Cheyenne Been that tied the score at 20-20, the Stars scored the next nine points to pull out to a nine-point edge at the 6:13 mark of the opening half.
The Lady Evangels got back in it as a three-point play by Lauren McKinney capped a brief 5-0 run that cut the deficit to six.
OCU then stretched their lead to 14 by outscoring the Lady Evangels 10-2 over the final 3:13 of the half to lead 41-27 at the break.
The Stars didn't relent in the second half, scoring the first six points to expand the lead to 20 before a three by Ferguson broke the Lady Evangels' scoring drought.
OCU then put it away with a 13-2 run that made it 60-32 as the Stars held the Lady Evangels to only five points through the first 13 minutes of the second half.
Ferguson was the lone Lady Evangel in double figures with 15, while April Williams pulled down a team-high five rebounds.
Yvonte Neal led OCU with 16 points, with Autumn Huffman and Ouleymatou Coulibaly each scored 10 points. Markeisha Johnson had a game-high nine rebounds for the Stars.
The Stars used their interior size to hold a 46-32 edge in rebounding and also limited the Lady Evangels to only 25.9 percent (14-of-54) for the game.
The Lady Evangels will next wrap up the regular season at Southwestern Christian University Saturday afternoon (Mar. 1) at 3 p.m. in Bethany, Okla.
