KEEPING THEIR BALANCE: The OKWU Eagles play team offense in road win; the Lady Eagles fall

OKWU's Austin Poling attempts a pull-up jumper during a recent game vs. Southwestern.
OKWU's Austin Poling attempts a pull-up jumper during a recent game vs. Southwestern.

Through three quarters the Oklahoma Wesleyan University women’s basketball team set itself for a late rally at Tabor (Kan.) College.

But, Tabor turned up the intensity on defense — giving up only eight points in the fourth period — and defeated the OKWU Lady Eagles, 72-58, in a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference scrap.

In the men’s game, OKWU clawed past Tabor, 75-69, in a game with an odd scoring breakdown.

Following are summaries of Thursday’s games:

Men: OKWU 75, Tabor 69

OKWU celebrated its No. 5 national ranking Wednesday by holding off an upset-minded Tabor crew.

Seven different Eagles scored seven-or-more points to piece together the victory.

Lense Ramey and Kaleb Stokes accumulated 17 and 11 points, respectively, to pace the Eagles’ scoring attack.

accumulating nine points each were Dylan Phillip and Derrick Talton Jr.; Jaden Lietzke, Kaz Ammons and Valentin Van Putten sank seven points apiece.

Van Putten also pulled down 14 rebounds and handed out two assists.

Ramey collected four steals and Taylen Miller handed out four assists.

The Eagles also showed well-distributed heart in pushing back on an upstart Tabor squad.

With just 5:19 left in the game, Tabor sliced OKWU’s lead to two points, 67-65.

Nearly a minute later, Tabor pulled even at 67-67.

OKWU then displayed its character.

Van Putten coaxed in a free throw to put OKWU up by a point, 68-67, with 4:13 left.

After both teams missed a three-pointers, OKWU got the ball back, leading to a trey by Phillip to extend OKWU’s advantage to 71-67, with 3:15 left.

Both teams continued to scramble and the stubborn Eagles refused to yield to the challenge.

They went up by five, 73-68, on Van Putten’s jumper with 2:01 left, and held on.

Ramey made two free throws with 12 seconds left to seal the victory.

OKWU improved to 19-1 overall and 12-1 in KCAC.

Women: Tabor 72, OKWU 58

Tabor clawed to a 21-13 lead in the opening period. But, the Lady Eagles dug in and stayed within striking distance.

Coming out of the third stanza, Tabor still led by eight, 58-50, which left the door open for a Lady Eagle comeback.

OKWU's Melanie Williams puts the soft touch on the ball as it floats in for two points during a recent game vs. Southwestern College.
OKWU's Melanie Williams puts the soft touch on the ball as it floats in for two points during a recent game vs. Southwestern College.

However, OKWU (9-10, 7-6) managed only eight points in the final period, which allowed favored Tabor (13-5, 10-3) to escape with the win.

Zaraiah Tillman filled the nets with 16 points to lead the Lady Eagles’ attack, followed by ShaRae Frazier with 12.

The other three Lady Eagle starters combined for just 11 points.

River Jefferies came off the bench to can nine points.

Sydnee Schovanec amassed a solid contribution with nine points and five rebounds.

Braxtyn Stewart and Alyvia Owens each netted 12 points for Tabor.

OKWU also learned it got a the weekend off when Saint Mary (Kan.) forfeited Saturday’s scheduled showdown.

The Lady Eagles — who are coached by Grace Hadley — improved to 10-10 and 8-6.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Oklahoma Wesleyan basketball teams play at Tabor