Ambassadors cruise past Bears
Jan. 28—Emmy Colin caught a pass in the front court with just a few seconds remaining before halftime. She squared up to the basket and from 10 feet across half court, she let it fly. The ball hit nothing but net to cap a 50-point half and help Ozark Christian cruise to an 87-44 win over Barclay College on Saturday afternoon inside the Multipurpose Building at OCC.
"I see her (Colin) do it all the time before and after practice," OCC head coach Kyle Wicklund said. "She practices those sort of shots so I knew if we got her a look she had a good chance of making that shot."
The Ambassadors (14-3, 8-0 MCCC) used suffocating defense in the first half to catapult themselves to a 32-point lead by the intermission. They held the Bears to just seven made field goals in the first 20 minutes. Barclay also only attempted 29 shots.
Wicklund noted that Barclay is an athletic team and he told his squad coming in they would have to do a good job of helping and recovering quickly and he thought they did exactly that.
It was a mismatch all game long. OCC attempted 76 shots to Barclay's 57. Ozark also forced their opponent into multiple turnovers. The Bears handed it over to the Ambassadors 27 times throughout the contest.
Ozark's defense wasn't the only part of its game that was clicking.
"It's easy to have a good shooting night and then come out flat," Wicklund said. "We challenged them after last night's game and today to come out with intensity. Come out with intensity on the defensive end and let that fuel your offense."
Shots were falling left and right from beyond the arc. Colin hit seven more 3-pointers other than the deep one to account from 24 of her 28 points in the game. The College Heights graduate led all scorers.
OCC hit 16 threes as a team on 31 attempts. Former Joplin Eagle Brooke Nice finished 3 for 4 from outside with 9 points.
Lydia Pipins and Emmary Williams both added two more triples.
Freshman Reagan Etzel added the final 3-pointer.
Etzel finished with 14 points on 5 of 7 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds. Williams scored 15 and shot 5 for 10. Colin finished 10 for 20 overall and 8 for 12 from downtown.
The win gives the Ambassadors their eight consecutive victory and maintains their perfect record inside Midwest Christian College Conference play.
OCC was ranked fourth in the most recent NCCAA polls posted on Jan. 24. The next set of rankings will be released on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
It was a high-scoring week for Ozark as they outscored each opponent by 40-plus points. On Tuesday, the Ambassadors topped Calvary University 95-51 at home. They stayed home Friday night and rolled to a 91-49 win over Manhattan Christian and then picked up the 87-44 win Saturday.
Coach Wicklund mentioned wanting to see his team continue to bring that energy moving forward.
OCC will travel to Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa, on Friday for a 4 p.m. tipoff. OCC won its last meeting with FBBC on Jan. 14 at home 71-52.
