TULSA - Sometimes playing a team three times in a season can be a difficult task. It wasn’t for the UAFS Lady Lions.
UAFS jumped out to an 11-point, first-quarter lead against St. Edward’s on Thursday afternoon, and the No. 2 seed Lady Lions cruised to a lopsided 73-48 win against the No. 7 seed Hilltoppers in the first round of the Heartland Conference Tournament at the UMAC in Tulsa, Okla.
The Lady Lions (19-9) will play the winner of Friday’s first-round game between No. 3 St. Mary’s and No. 6 Rogers State at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in the semifinals.
It was the Lady Lions’ third win against the Hilltoppers this season. UAFS beat St. Edward’s 72-60 on Jan. 11 at the Recreation and Convocation Center in Austin, Texas, and 76-48 on Feb. 10 at the Stubblefield Center.
UAFS shot 44 percent from the field for the game (27 of 61) – it was 5-of-22 shooting from 3-point range – and shot 74 percent from the free-throw line (14 of 19).
The forward tandem of senior Tayla Taylor and junior Ellie Lehne dominated despite being in foul trouble. Taylor scored a team-high 19 points despite playing only 19 minutes because of foul trouble, and Lehne had 12 points despite also only playing 19 minutes.
Junior guard Daijah Brown had 12 points to round out the Lady Lions’ double-figure scoring.
The Lady Lions out-rebounded the Hilltoppers by eight rebounds. Taylor just missed a double-double, finishing with eight rebounds.
St. Edward’s shot 41 percent from the field (17 of 42) – it was 5-of-17 shooting from 3-point range – and shot only 60 percent from the free-throw line (9 of 15). Sophomore guard Fairen Sutton had 12 points off the bench to lead the Hilltoppers. Junior forward Abby Hopper had a team-high six rebounds.
UAFS built an early 23-12 first-quarter lead against St. Edward’s, shooting a sizzling 50 percent from the field (9 of 18), but the Lady Lions’ hot shooting cooled considerably in the second quarter as the Lady Lions shot only 20 percent from the field (3 of 15).
Still, the Lady Lions took a seven-point lead (33-26) lead into the locker room at halftime.
After a quick halftime break, the Lady Lions found their shooting touch again in the fourth quarter, shooting 50 percent from the field (9 of 18) and outscoring the Hilltoppers by 12 points (21-9) to take a 54-35 lead into the fourth quarter.
WOMEN
NO. 2 UAFS 73, NO. 7 ST. EDWARD’S 48
St. Edward’s 12 14 9 13 — 48
UAFS 23 10 21 19 — 73
St. Edward’s (11-17): Sutton 12, Cunningham 7, Whyte 6, Hernandez 5, Hill 5, Panfili 5, Hopper 3, Box 3, Schenck 2
UAFS (19-9): Taylor 19, Lehne 12, D. Brown 12, A. Brown 9, Williams 7, Haynes 7, Gulley 4, Green 3
