BETHANY, OK: The Texas Wesleyan University women's basketball team (6-7, 1-3 SAC) fell just short of an impressive comeback dropping a 48-43 road game to Southwestern Christian University (5-9, 2-2 SAC) at Pickens-Springer Gym on Saturday.
 
The Lady Rams entered the contest outshooting their opponent by an average of 42 percent to 35 percent per game from the field on the year. The Lady Rams also hold a plus four rebound edge.
 
The Eagles got off to a hot start, building a 12-5 lead on a 9-3 run over the first six minutes of the first quarter. Southwestern Christian continued their dominance the rest of the quarter, as the Rams made only three shots from the field trailing 18-9.
 
Katelynn Threats made a nice move in paint and threw in a layup to start the second stanza, and Alycia Louallen followed that with a swipe and swish from downtown to cut the lead to 18-14. Chervelle Cox added a steal as well and put in a fast break lay-up as Texas Wesleyan started to adjust to the Eagle defense. The Eagle offense however, continued to score without much opposition, taking a 31-19 lead into the break.
 
The Rams shot only 27 percent from the field, making only seven shots, while SCU shot 47 percent from the field and 33 percent from beyond the arc. The 19 points the Rams finished the half with is also their lowest of the season.
 
Wesleyan simmered the hot Eagle shooting to start the third quarter, outscoring Southwestern Christian 11 -5 including a 9-0 rally capped by a Falesha Fuller jumper. That would make it a 34-28 deficit midway through the quarter. Southwestern Christian kept shooting and scoring though, and maintained a slight edge, despite a good Wesleyan offensive attack. Louallen drained another triple off of an Eagle turnover to make it a 38-33 game late in the third. Southwestern Christian scored four points before the end of the quarter to jump back out to a 42-33.
 
The Lady Rams opened the last quarter with a very important 9-0 run capped by an Onyesonam Nolisa put back shot to cut the lead to a one point, 44-43 game with 3:27 left on the clock. Each team had plenty of time and opportunities to make something happen in the waning minutes of the game, but the scoring went silent for over three minutes of game time deadlocked at 44-43. The Rams missed a shot to take the lead with 20 seconds left and each team took back-to-back timeouts before Wesleyan forced a turnover to get the ball back with 16 seconds remaining. TWU took a timeout to draw up a play, but Andi Mcgill played hero for the home crowd by coming up with a steal and forcing a foul. With only one second left on the clock, the Rams ran out of time taking a 48-43 loss.
 
For the game, TWU shot only 29.6 percent from the field, while the Eagles shot only 34.7 percent from the field. SCU held the rebound edge, 35-30. The 43 points scored were the lowest of the season for the Lady Rams.
 
Nolisa led the Lady Rams with 14 points, adding eight boards, a pair of steals, and one block in the loss. Louallen posted nine points. Threats led all players with 13 rebounds in the game.
 
Texas Wesleyan continues their road stand with a contest against Bacone College in Muskogee, OK on Thursday, January 14. That game set for a 6:00 pm tip-off.