Sunflower State News

Braves Rally Past McPherson, 67-60

The Ottawa University women's basketball team won its second straight game with a 67-60 victory over McPherson College at The Sport Center on Monday night. Nicole Brown had a career night with 33 points and 20 rebounds. She was three points away from tying the school record in single game points (36).

Ottawa had an early 10-6 lead over McPherson in the opening minutes of the first half. The Bulldogs chipped away at the OU lead and tied the game at 16-16. Ottawa retook the lead 17-16 on a Cierra Brown free throw. McPherson, however, ended the quarter on an 8-0 run, taking a 24-17 lead into the second.

Field goals by Alyssa Guzman and Nicole Brown at the start of the second quarter cut the deficit to 24-21. The Bulldogs maintained its slight advantage over the Braves and led 37-30 with 10 seconds left in the half. Maria Moore was able to get open and hit a jumper as the halftime buzzer sounded and McPherson took a 37-32 lead into the locker room.

The Braves opened the third on a 9-0 run, taking a 41-37 lead on a 3-pt field goal by Jordan Bianco. McPherson answered with a run of its own and led 46-41 with 3:06 left in the third.

Baskets by Hailey Henry and Nicole Brown cut the deficit to one point, 46-45. The Bulldogs converted two free throws to push its lead to three points, 48-45 with a minute left in the third. Cierra Brown was able to get to the free throw line in the final seconds of the quarter. She made both free throws and the Braves trailed 48-47 at the start of the fourth.

Ottawa poured it on defensively at the start of the fourth. The Braves held McPherson to one point in the first three minutes of the final quarter of play. During that stretch, Ottawa was able to increase its lead and led 59-49 after a 3-pt play by Nicole Brown.

The Bulldogs did not go away and cut OU's lead to six points, 59-53 with 5:43 on the clock but Ottawa answered by scoring the next five points to take a 64-53 lead on a Nicole Brown basket. That was McPherson's last run at the Braves as OU only allowed six points in the final three minutes to take the 66-59 victory.

Inside the Box Score

Ottawa shot 32.8 percent from the floor, 21.4 percent from behind the arc, and 78.9 percent from the free throw line.

Nicole Brown scored 33 points and pulled down 20 rebounds. She also had two assists, one block, and one steal.

Cierra Brown came off the bench to score nine points

Alyssa Guzman had eight assists.

Original source can be found here.