The Harris-Stowe Women’s Basketball Team shocked the NAIA Women’s Basketball Tournament by defeating the No. one seed, Oklahoma City Stars, 73-64 in Oman Arena, Wednesday morning.
The tournament win is the first in Harris-Stowe school history, as they will now await the winner of Carroll (Mont.) (25-5) and Westmont (Calif.) (21-8), who they will face in the second round Friday at 10:45 a.m.
“Getting the monkey off our backs is important," said Coach Lewis. "I didn’t look at this game as a No. one seed vs. a No. eight seed, but just as another team. We have played great teams all season, so we felt prepared for this challenge.”
Both teams struggled to score early in the first half with the Hornets taking a 6-5 lead on Sheri Jones (St. Louis, MO/ Rend Lake C.C.) layup. The Stars would get comfortable offensively and grab an 11-6 lead with 14:21 remaining in the first half. Oklahoma City built their lead to 30-22 with just more than two minutes remaining in the half when Chanel Ross (Philadelphia, PA/ State Fair C.C.) picked up her fourth personal foul.
The Hornets trailed the Stars at halftime 33-27, but would quietly work their way back in the game in the second half and would take a 41-39 lead on a Ross three-point field goal with 12:41 remaining.
Harris-Stowe would never relinquish their lead building it to as high as 11 points as they held on to the nine-point victory. Erica Anderson (St. Louis, MO/ Mineral Area C.C.) led the Hornets with her season high 19 points. Jones added 18 points and nine rebounds, while Ross scored 17 points and dished out five assists.
