Complete Box Score

LANGSTON, Oklahoma - Wesleyan began the game shooting well, but hit a dry spell midway through the opening half, and couldn’t recover as the Lady Lions of Langston University sent the Lady Rams to their seventh conference loss of the season.

Ashley Walker scored six early points, as Wesleyan opened up a 13-9 lead after eight minutes of play. Unfortunately, the Lady Rams couldn’t manage a single point for the next seven minutes, and Langston surged ahead with a 19-0 run to take a 28 13 lead with five minutes remaining in the half.

Shawndrika Courtney then sparked a 7-0 run for Wesleyan, but Patrice Simms’ three-pointer at the 3:21 mark put an end to the Lady Rams’ momentum, and the teams traded baskets evenly to produce a 33-24 halftime score.

After a quick bucket by Wesleyan, neither team could find the net for a couple of minutes. After a pair of Langston free throws with 18:06 on the clock, the Lady Rams managed to hit a few shots and cut the lead down to just four points at 39-35. Simms continued to impress for Langston, hitting a pair of shots to push the lead back up, but Walker, Courtney, and Shayla Coleman combined to bring Wesleyan almost all the way back. Courtney’s bucket with eight minutes remaining closed the gap to just two points, but Syretha Penn buried a three-pointer for Langston, taking the wind out of Wesleyan’s sails.

The Lady Lions quickly built the lead back up over ten points, where it stayed for almost all of the remaining time. Simms closed out the scoring on a pair of free throws with three seconds remaining, bringing the final score to 68-56.

For Langston, Simms led with 20 points on seven of 17 shooting from the floor. She also finished with six rebounds, three assists, and six steals. Shanika Bottoms scored 14 for the Lady Lions, and Kayla Smith had ten points, eight rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Wesleyan was led by Courtney’s game-high 21 points. She hit eight of 13 shots in the game, and also pulled down eight rebounds and had four steals. Walker scored 11 for the Lady Rams, also secured eight rebounds, and recorded five steals. Coleman scored 13, including ten in the second half, and Kim Cooper scored nine and led the squad with nine rebounds.

The Lady Rams fall to 7-11 on the season, 1-7 in conference play. They will stay in Oklahoma over the weekend and face Bacone College in Muskogee on Monday night at 5:30. They return home to face Southwestern Assemblies of God university on February 1.