Ambassadors split home pair with Thunder

Jan. 27—The Ozark Christian women's basketball team cruised to a 91-49 victory over Manhattan Christian College on Friday night at the Mulitipurpose Building on the campus of OCC.

The Ambassadors (13-3, 6-0 MCCC) are ranked No. 4 in Division II of the National Christian College Athletics Association and they showed why against the Thunder.

OCC had 13 different contributors in the contest and three of them scored in double figures. Welch, Oklahoma native, freshman Reagan Etzel led the way with 13 points. Emmary Williams added 12 points and Makenzie Purinton chipped in 11 more.

Manhattan (2-13, 2-6 MCCC) played closely with Ozark in the first quarter as they only trailed 18-13 at the end. The second quarter is when the game would get lopsided. OCC outpaced their opponent 27-10 in that period to lead by 22 at halftime.

Williams added eight steals and rebounds to lead the team in both categories. Emmy Colin dished out a team-leading six assists.

The Thunder were led by Karrigan Dunstan with 19 points.

SCALING THE SEASON

Ozark Christian has now won seven straight games as they head into the final month of regular-season play. Sitting at 10 games above .500, head coach Kyle Wicklund is happy with his team's performance so far.

"One thing they're doing a very good job of is our energy level is up every single game," he said. "It doesn't matter who we're playing, our energy is always there. We can cover a lot of mistakes with high energy. Right now they're doing a good job of distributing the ball... just playing really good team ball right now."

Last year the Ambassadors finished 22-2 in the regular season and won their final 22 games on the schedule. They graduated some seniors from that team and also lost a key contributor in Kamryn Gentry to a transfer. OCC has shown improvements despite losing multiple players from last year's roster.

"We're very mature compared to last year," Wicklund said. "We lost several seniors last year but I think the younger kids that got to play quite a bit last year have stepped their game up this year."

He added that he's seen growth from his younger players this year already as well. Since the semester has turned, Wicklund has noticed them stepping into their roles much more smoothly. He believes those added minutes helps to develop more depth for the team moving forward.

OCC hosts Barclay College on Saturday. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. The Bears enter play at 11-4.

"This is a team that, they're tough, they're physical. They run like we do," Wicklund said. "But if we stick to our gameplan and stick to what we do well, we should be OK. I just want to see that resilience out of the girls and that toughness. Which I know they're going to bring. They've been looking forward to this game for awhile."

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The Ambassadors (11-5, 6-1 MCCC) faced a 43-31 hole against No. 2 Manhattan Christian on Friday night and were unable to dig themselves out of the hole as they fell 86-64.

The Thunder (14-6, 9-0 MCCC) featured spread scoring in the contest to help overwhelm OCC. There were five MCC players score in double figures and they were led by Dyelan Reed.

Reed tallied 19 points. Big man Jordan White was behind him with 18. Ferdinand Handy Jr. added 16 more for the Thunder. Taymont Lindsey and Garrett Harmison scored 13 apiece. Each of these five players recorded at least eight rebounds as well. Handy Jr. and Reed pulled down nine.

The Ambassadors were outrebounded 53-35 in the contest.

Ozark was led by the game's leading scorer Tyler Alarid with 24 points. Alarid was accompanied in double digits by Josiah Beckenhauer with 16 and Aason Cross with 12.

SCALING THE SEASON

The Ambassadors had a four-game winning streak going throughout mid-January. They've gone a little back and forth since. Head coach Chris Lahm wants to see some better decisions from his guys moving forward.

"Shooting wise, we can really shoot it, but we have to have better shot selection," he said.

Lahm noted that Friday's contest was just a matter of being outrebounded and he'd like to see his team be better in that area as well. One thing that has stood out to him about the unit is their togetherness and how they've bonded on the floor as a group.

He wants to see them showcase that a little more on Saturday when they play host to Barclay College (2-9) for a 3 p.m. tipoff.

Ozark is just three wins away from tying last year's regular season total of 14. The Ambassadors finished that season 14-13 overall and 7-5 in conference play. They need just one more conference win to tie that mark.

"Offensively, we're just a much better team," Lahm said. "I would say mentally they're just more into the game (this year). They're stronger mentally. They don't get down. They keep playing hard all the time."