FORT WORTH – Texas Wesleyan Women's Basketball (8-10, 6-4 SAC) chipped away at a deficit the entire night but never could find enough offense in a 60-49 loss to the No. 12 team in the country (according to the updated NAIA Coaches' Poll) Oklahoma City (15-2, 8-1 SAC). It was what the Lady Rams did on the defensive end that was impressive.
 
TXWES held the Stars to just 60 points, Oklahoma City's lowest output of the season. It was the Lady Rams strongest defensive performance against Oklahoma City since holding the Stars to 53 points February 25, 2016.
 
Oklahoma City came into Fort Worth with the No. 1 field goal defense, holding opponents to just 28.5 percent shooting but in the second half Texas Wesleyan cracked the code, nailing 12-of-28 shots (42.8 percent).
 
Nine different Lady Rams scored. Nicole Gleason and Crystal Ngawuchu had nine points, Lexi Burns added seven while Evie Whorley and Bailey Broadnax each contributed six points. Kyla Grant led the boards with six rebounds while Burns had four of the team's 10 assists and three of the squad's nine steals.
 
Grant got multiple stops on an island in the paint against Oklahoma City's most fearsome offensive threats, Abby Selzer (20 points) and Brennyn Seagler (11 points) while Ngawuchu was the team's most aggressive offensive player, fearless against the conference's top blocker (Taylor Sylvester, three blocks Thursday).
 
Gleason hit 3-of-9 from downtown, but the Lady Rams only managed 6-of-24 from deep.
 
In the second quarter up 19-11, Oklahoma City scored eight straight points to balloon the lead to 16, 27-11. The Lady Rams spent the next 10 minutes scrapping back, cutting the Stars lead to 37-30 on Ngawuchu's bucket. Down 46-37 with 8:14 to go, a 6-0 run helped the Stars pull away again.
 
One more time, TXWES made a push – an 8-2 run to get the score up to 58-49 with 1:24 to go but missed four-straight three pointers in a last-ditch effort to pull the upset.
 
Texas Wesleyan only turned the ball over 13 times, forcing 14, winning the points off turnovers battle, 14-6.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Lady Rams head to Bethany, Oklahoma to take on Southwestern Christian, who is coming off an overtime road loss, 72-66 to Southwest Assemblies of God and a 113-53 loss to No. 6 Wayland Baptist. It's the first meeting of the season after the two sides split the 2017-2018 series.