OBU Survives Upset Bid

Article Date

December 10, 2005

Park University's Sarah Hopkins missed an open jumper at the buzzer and Oklahoma Baptist survived its first contest as a member of the NAIA Top 10 Saturday, 75-74.

The Pirates had taken advantage of almost every opportunity, but came up just short after trailing by three with 38 seconds left.

Tiffany Alexander scored inside with 15 seconds to play and Park forced a turnover, coming up with a loose ball near mid-court. The Pirates worked to find an open shot and got the ball to their leading scorer in the game, but Hopkins' shot was short and Dilenny Castillo gathered the rebound at the buzzer.

"Every bounce went their way and I don't think we played as hard as we could have," said OBU Coach John McCullough.

The game saw 15 ties and 11 lead changes.

The Lady Bison struggled to rebound, losing that category 36-29 after entering as the No. 1 rebounding team in the NAIA. Park corralled 16 offensive boards and parlayed that into a 15-2 edge in second-chance scoring for the game.

OBU had a slim 30-28 lead with 4:41 left in the first half before Jennifer Jupin scored five points off the bench in a 10-2 run that gave the Lady Bison their biggest lad, 40-30, with 1:10 left before intermission. Park knocked the lead down to 40-34 at halftime.

Tabetha Eaton scored the first basket of the second half, but OBU's offense went dead for the next 5:30 and Park secured a 43-42 lead at the 13:26 mark of the game.

The Pirates led 62-59 with 6:23 to play but Castillo re-entered the game after sitting with her fourth foul for six minutes. Rachel Heins then twisted her way to the basket for a 63-62 OBU lead with 5:25 left.

Cherrale Ricks scored to make it 64-63 Park, but OBU scored the next five points with a basket by Tamara Whitley after a free throw by Heins and two charity shots by Keely Tolin.

Park tied the game at 70-70 with 2:33 to play.

A free throw and then a basket by Eaton made it a 73-70 OBU lead with 1:36 to play. Alexander hit two free throws to trim it to 73-72, but Heins answered with two of her own for the 75-72 advantage.

Alexander scored again with 15 seconds to play. OBU was pressed in the backcourt and had a long pass to mid-court bandied around before Park took possession to set up the near-heroic shot by Hopkins.

Eaton led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Heins with 20 and Jupin with 10 for OBU. Hopkins led Park (5-8) with 17 points.

The 9-0 Lady Bison will play Columbia College at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Park College in Missouri. Park and OBU will hook up again in Parkville, Mo., Monday, Dec. 19, at 1 p.m.