CLAREMORE, Okla. - The Rogers State women gave the RSU Homecoming crowd on-hand something to cheer about Saturday afternoon, defeating No. 15 Langston, 75-68.
Reserve player Brittani Smith sparked the Cats with 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc. The Coweta, Okla., native saw extended minutes after starter Logan Froese got in early foul trouble. Smith helped the Cats reach the largest lead of the game at 14 points with 13:09 remaining as the 6-foot-3 post player hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
"Brittani Smith was the key to our success tonight and was our champion of the day," coach Amy Williams stated. "She logged a lot more minutes than she's use to and played good defense while being a spark on the offensive end of the court as well."
The Lady Lions cut the Hillcats lead to four with just over a minute left in the contest off a Deanne Adger three pointer. A Cortney Crockett pull-up jumper with 49 seconds left stretched the Cat lead back to six. RSU extended the lead to eight with 12 seconds remaining off a pair of free throws by Angie Criner. A free throw by Froese put the lead at nine but the Lady Lions cut the score to the final spread of 7 points off an Adger two point bucket with 2 seconds remaining.
"Cortney and Angie made key plays late in the game and that's what we expect out of those two," said Williams.
Crockett led the Hillcats with 18 points while Criner tallied 16 points. Candice Stewart rounded out the double-digit scorers for RSU with 10 points while hauling in 5 boards.
RSU opened the contest on an 8-2 run capped off by a Criner layup as the Cats never relinquished the lead to the Lady Lions throughout the remainder of the game.
Langston was led by the impressive play of forward Stephanie Madden who finished with 24 points and 18 rebounds. The Hillcats were out-rebounded by Langston, 49-27, as RSU gave up 24 offensive rebounds to the Lady Lions.
"I told our team heading into the game we had to out-rebound them to win this game. Well they made a liar out of me. We'll have a tough test returning to their place next Saturday," Williams said post game.
The Hillcats created 12 steals of Langston's 22 turnovers on the night. Froese and senior Andrea Miles both nabbed three steals a piece. It was a team effort for coach Amy Williams' squad, using ten players on the night with all ten recording points while the Cats dished out 16 assists as a team.
The Hillcats will face Langston in one week on the road for a return game next Saturday to face the Lady Lions. Up next for RSU is a road trip to Winfield, Kan., as RSU takes on Southwestern College on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. The game will be carried live on RSU Radio 91.3FM.
