SHAWNEE, OK:  The Texas Wesleyan University women’s basketball team (1-3) suffered a 79-66 loss at the hands of 25th ranked Oklahoma Baptist (5-0) on Friday.

The Bisons held the Lady Rams to 29% shooting in the first half while shooting 55% from the field themselves.  Oklahoma Baptist jumped ahead 14-2 and lead 43-30 at halftime.

A bucket from Sheleatha Simmons cut the deficit to single digits (44-35) in the early stages of the second half.  However, the Bisons proceeded to score 12 unanswered points to pull ahead 56-35.  Oklahoma Baptist took the largest lead of the game (60-36) on a pair of free throws from Rachel Heins with 11:49 to play.

The Lady Rams were able to cut that margin in half by hitting a pair of free throws with 5:51 on the clock to bring the score to 66-54.  Unfortunately, the Rams’ rally fell short as Oklahoma Baptist held on for the 79-66 win.

Oklahoma Baptist dominated the boards 52-29, but Texas Wesleyan did benefit from 23 turnovers by the Bisons.

Melissa Meyers led the way offensively for Texas Wesleyan.  Meyers, a freshman guard, came off the bench to score a career high 20 points.  “Melissa really stepped up tonight,” said head coach Stacy Francis.  “I had a talk with her last week, and told her to relax and find her game.  I think she was able to do that today, and it gave us a big lift.  I hope that gives her confidence in the future.”  Kori Yates added 15 points for the Rams.  Heins led the Bisons with 20 points.

“We came out flat in the first half and had to play catch up,” said Francis, “That was the difference in the game.  Overall I was impressed with our play in the second half, but we have got to rebound and shoot better at the line.  Once we put 40 minutes together we are going to be tough.  We have one more game to accomplish that before we jump into conference play against Jarvis Christian.”