The USAO women’s basketball team had their season home opener against the Arlington Baptist University (ABU) Saturday, Nov. 4. The women’s team has a lot of attention on them coming into this season, as they are ranked #25 on the NAIA Coaches Poll.
The starters for the Drovers were: BB Polk, Diaka Berete, Crystal Ortiz, Alexia Corrales, and Lainey Morrow.
ABU won the possession but were unable to score the first bucket. Coming down, Morrow scored back-to-back buckets to set the tone for the first minutes of play. The Pioneers came in aggressive at the beginning of the game, racking up three fouls in under two minutes.
ABU finally responded half way through the first quarter with their first bucket of the game, making the score 8-2. At the end of the first quarter, the Drovers had a dominating presence putting up 30 points to ABU’s seven. A handful of the Drovers were looking at breaking the double digits early in the game as four players had six points at the end of the first, including Jordan Bloomfield, Trinitee Alexander, Polk, and Berete.
The starters for the Drovers remained in the line-up at the beginning of the second quarter. Morrow again struck first putting up eight points consecutively. After Morrow’s unanswered solo run, ABU responded with a run of their own. Quickly adding ten points to their score. Which resulted in the USAO’s head coach Darrick Matthews calling a timeout.
The Drovers had picked up the pace again before the half ended, adding 18 more points to the team’s total. The Pioneers kept a good pace even after the time-out, gaining seven more points before the half. At the end of the first half, the score was 56-24 in favor of the Drovers.
Starting the third, ABU started off hot quickly putting up 11 points. At the end of the third, ABU won the quarter, outscoring USAO 16-14. However, the lead that the Drovers had accumulated was too large to notice much change. The score at the end of the third was 70-40.
In the fourth quarter, the Drovers, much like the first quarter, dominated the floor outscoring ABU 30-7. At the end of regulation play, the Drovers won 100-47.
“I think for the rest of the season, the games are going to go pretty well,” Morrow said after the game. Morrow went on to say that the team chemistry is good and hopes to be able to protect the ball more going on into the season.
As a team, the Drovers shot 52.6% from the floor, compared to ABU’s 27.3%. USAO out rebounded the Pioneers 56 to 35. Of their 56 rebounds, 19 were offensive rebounds and the Drovers added 21 points off second-chance shots. USAO showed teamwork by logging 22 assists, as well as their speed with 28 points off of turnovers and 32 points off fast breaks.
Morrow recorded her first double-double of the season, with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Bloomfield trailed Morrow with 19 points. Toni Fortune had four of the team’s 20 steals, as Polk, Berete, and Corrales tallied three each.
The Drovers will play again Friday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. in Kansas at the Tabor Classic.
Holden Pate is a second-year business administration major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
