FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University women’s basketball team (22-5, 17-4 RRAC) edged out an 86-85 thrilling shootout against Our Lady of the Lake University (22-6, 17-5 RRAC) at the Sid Richardson Center on Monday night. 

Both teams traded buckets early as a Treshenia Solomon gave the Lady Saints their first lead of the night at 13-12 with a jumper in the lane.

The Lady Rams hit full throttle after that, taking a 15-0 run over five and a half minutes of game time. The run was capped by a Raven Smith jumper that put Wesleyan up 27-13 midway through the first half. From there the Lady Rams kept the Saints at arm’s length to take a 47-36 to intermission. 

The Lady Rams kept Our Lady of the Lake off of the free throw line, and they did not help matters only hitting 3 of 7. The Lady Rams shot 65 percent from the charity stripe. Wesleyan also outshot OLLU 47 percent to 38 percent from the field.

Both teams shot better in the second half and the Lady Saints slowly got back into the ball game shooting 60 percent from the field, while Wesleyan tried to match them at 52 percent.  

The Lady Rams took an eight point lead all the way to seven minutes remaining before the Saints went on a 13-0 run capped by a Jennifer Davison and one play that put OLLU up 79-74 with four minutes left in the game.

Raven Alexander made it a one-point game at 81-80 with 1:48 on the clock, but the Saints got to the free throw line to regain an 83-80 lead. 

Smith hit a big jumper to bring the Rams back within one point again at 83-82 with 1:08 left in the ball game. Stacey Darnley missed a three pointer and went out of bounds off OLLU. Brittany White drew a foul and hit the first to tie the game at 83-83. The Lady Saints took a timeout to maybe ice White, but she drained the second to give Wesleyan an 84-83 lead with 33 seconds left. Nashae Owens drove in the lane and converted a layup to take an 85-84 lead with 16 seconds left in the game. Nicole Terral then drove down the court heavily guarded, and as she was falling to the ground found an open Octavia Mullins who drove baseline and put it the layup as time expired, and the home crowd exploded, to lift the Lady Rams to an 86-85 win.

Both teams ended up shooting very similar, OLLU shot 47.8 percent from the field, 31 percent from behind the arc, and 63.2 percent from the free throw line. Wesleyan shot 49.2 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from downtown, and 65.7 percent from the charity stripe. 

Terral put in 35 good hard minutes, most of those running the point after senior guard Kristi Alexander had to leave the game with an injury. Terral led the Rams with 18 points six boards, five assists, and three steals. Mullins had yet another double double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. White tallied 17 points, to go along with seven assists in the win. Smith added 14 points and three blocks for the Rams.