The Oglethorpe women's basketball team ran out to a big lead on the visiting Rhodes Lynx Friday night at Dorough Field House and held on during the fourth quarter for a 65-55 win. The victory improved the Stormy Petrels to 15-4 on the season overall and 6-2 in SAA play, putting them in second place in the league standings by themselves.
The teams went back and forth during the first quarter, with the Petrels leading 12-11 at the end of the period. However, the second quarter was all Petrels. They outscored Rhodes 25-15 over the 10 minutes, highlighted by a 13-3 run over the first 4:30 of the period. Rhodes brought it back to within six with five straight points, making it 27-21 with four minutes left until halftime. But Oglethorpe closed the half on a 10-5 stretch to take a 37-26 lead into the locker room.
The Lynx used another five-point run early in the third quarter to make the score 39-33 with just under six minutes left, but the home side responded with a 12-2 stretch over the next three minutes to take their largest lead of the game, 51-35, with 2:15 left in the third.
The visitors cut it back to a 13-point game headed to the fourth quarter, though, then outscored Oglethorpe 13-3 to start the period and pulled to within just four points, 57-53, with 50 seconds to go in the game. Oglethorpe went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line over the final 45 seconds, though, and pulled away for a 10-point victory.
Senior forward Lauren Ransom recorded a double double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 14 rebounds while also recording a pair of blocks. Senior center Savannah LeGate scored eight points while grabbing eight boards and recording four blocks, while senior guard Bailey Charles added 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Petrels shot 76.7 percent (23-for-30) from the free-throw line on the night while forcing 18 Rhodes turnovers and committing just nine. Oglethorpe outscored the Lynx 26-1 off those turnovers.
"This was a short turnaround game against a team that beat us just a week ago," said Oglethorpe head coach Alex Richey, "but I loved our focus and energy all week in practice. When we play with high energy, we are a good basketball team. We've got lots of basketball left and we'll have to refocus for a game against a scrappy Hendrix team on Sunday."
The Petrels will host the Warriors at noon from Dorough Field House. After that, they'll welcome Birmingham-Southern Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. and Millsaps Feb. 3 at 1 p.m.