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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State women's basketball team staved off a late comeback to defeat rival Central Oklahoma 63-61 Thursday night inside the NSU Event Center.
 
The RiverHawks improved to 10-10 overall on the season and 7-6 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, while the Bronchos dropped to 10-10 overall and 5-8 in the league.
 
Junior guard Fontana Tate hit the game-winning three with 10 seconds to play. She led NSU with 15 points. Freshman forward Mya Walker finished with a season-best 14 points.
 
Senior forward Carrington Fox filled the stat sheet with 10 points, eight rebounds, seven blocks, and five assists in 33 minutes. She now has 118 career blocks and is three shy of tying NSU's school record for career blocks held by Gaile Cook (1989-91).
 
NSU shot 44.4 percent (20-for-45) from the field, 33.3 percent (7-for-21) from behind the three-point line and 69.6 percent (16-for-23) at the free-throw line. UCO finished 19-for-57 (33.3 percent) from the field, 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) from the arc and 16-for-22 (72.7 percent) at the line.
 
Jill Bryan paced the visitors with 16 points, and Olivia Mason added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Central Oklahoma twice led by as many as five points in the first half, but it was Northeastern State that was able to take a 26-25 advantage into the locker room.
 
The RiverHawks were able to stretch their lead out to 12 points at 55-43 with 5:07 remaining following a 12-0 run, and they led 60-51 with 3:18 left.
 
UCO went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 61-60 lead with just 38 seconds left following a three by Haley Weathers.
 
Junior guard Chelsey Beathard missed a jumper from the wing with 21 seconds left, but the green and white got a second life when freshman forward Che'Ron Lewis snagged the offensive rebound.
 
NSU called a timeout and ran a play that saw Fox have the ball in the post, and she kicked out to Tate who connected on a step-back three with nine seconds left. A last-second shot from Mason clanged off the rim and the RiverHawks were able to hold on for a win over their rivals.
 
NSU will travel to Emporia, Kan., on Feb. 12 for a 7:30 p.m. rematch with Emporia State. Northeastern State topped the Lady Hornets 59-44 in Tahlequah on Jan. 22.
 
Scoring Summary
Central Oklahoma                25        36        61
Northeastern State              26        37        63
 
Northeastern State Coach Randy Gipson
Opening Statement…
"This was exactly the type of game we knew it would be. We started the game showing a little bit of rust. Maybe that was because we hadn't played in eight days. There was some concern about that, and it took our girls a little while to get their second wind. After the first quarter of the game or so, we settled in and I thought we played pretty solid aside from our defensive rebounding. That's one of the things that kept them in the game. Coming down the stretch, we didn't take care of the defensive boards very well and they got hot. They started to hit some long-range threes. Our kids fought it off, and obviously Fontana hit the big shot there to give us the lead. We also were able to get the stop at the end of the possession."
 
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