Lady Aggie loss dims playoff hopes

GAME BOXSCORE»

WEATHERFORD, Okla. (Feb. 22) - A 15-3 second-half run gave Southwestern Oklahoma a 58-46 victory and took away Cameron's hopes of controlling its own destiny in the Lone Star Conference North Division women's basketball race.

Coach Dick Halterman's squad slipped to 5-6 in league play, and will need help from other conference teams to advance to the LSC tournament for the fourth time in five years. The Lady Aggies entered Tuesday's contest mired in a four-way tie for third place in the LSC North standings. Only the top four teams from the division will advance to next week's LSC postseason tournament.

Cameron must win its final regular season game at home Saturday against Tarleton State, then look for teams above the Lady Aggies in the standings to falter.

Tuesday's contest started off in good fashion for the Lady Aggies. Cameron scored the first four points of the game and held a three-point lead on Brittany Cooksey's trey with 43 seconds remaining in the opening period that made it 31-28.

But the Lady Aggies had no answer for Southwestern forward Julie Dawson. Last year's LSC North Newcomer of the Year and the preseason pick as Player of the Year in the division this season, Dawson answered Cooksey's bomb with a three-pointer of her own to forge a 31-31 halftime stalemate. Dawson had 17 points by intermission and finished the game with 29, accounting for exactly half of her team's offensive output in the game.

Cameron stayed with SWOSU through the first half of the second period, as Joneatta Brown's layup on an assist by Christina Buben tied the score at 35-35 with 14:22 left on the clock. But Southwestern launched a 10-0 scoring run, capped by a steal and jumper by Dawson to make it 45-35 with 9:24 remaining.

The Lady Aggies briefly cut the lead to seven when Melissa Steen collected an offensive rebound on a missed free throw for the putback that made it 45-38 with just under nine minutes left in the game. But Southwestern scored the next nine points en route to the win.

Cameron held a slim 36-35 rebounding edge in the game and held the Lady Bulldogs 10 points below their season scoring average. But the Lady Aggies, who had been averaging nearly 15 points per game from the charity stripe over the past 17 games, got to the line just nine times for eight points in the contest.