The Oglethorpe women's basketball team delivered an outstanding performance from start to finish Sunday afternoon at Dorough Field House, defeating a Millsaps team that sits tied for first place in the league, 84-60. The Stormy Petrels vaulted to 14-10 overall and 8-5 in SAA play with the victory, maintaining their third-place tie after Hendrix defeated Centre in Conway, Arkansas, on Sunday.
The Petrels played very well in all phases of the game on Sunday. They outshot the Majors by a significant margin, converting on 59 percent of their field goal attempts while holding Millsaps to just 29 percent. Oglethorpe shot 50 percent from beyond the arc for the game and held the Majors to just 18 percent, while shooting 90 percent from the free throw line. The Petrels outscored the visitors 34-18 in the paint and 17-4 off the fast break.
Individually, sophomore forward Lauren Ransom enjoyed another outstanding performance, pouring in 20 points on 7-of-10 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. She also grabbed 9 rebounds and recorded 3 assists. Sophomore guard Bailey Charles added 19 points on 6-of-8 from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range, and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Sophomore guard Jada Triplett contributed 14 points on 4-of-5 from the field, 2-of-2 from distance and 4-of-4 from the line, despite only playing 17 minutes due to foul trouble.
The Petrels fell behind in the early-going, as the Majors went on a 14-5 run over the middle part of the opening quarter to take their largest lead of the contest, a 19-15 advantage with 3:11 left in the period. The Petrels responded in emphatic fashion, though, outscoring them 7-0 over the final 1:40 of the period to take a 24-21 lead.
They continued their run into the second, outscoring the visitors 21-9 over the course of the period. They led 45-30 at the break, and their spurt even continued into the second half. Bridging from the final 1:40 of the first quarter to the 8-minute mark of the third, Oglethorpe outscored Millsaps 33-11 over 13:40. From there, the Petrels maintained their arm's length advantage through the remainder of the game.
The Majors cut the lead to 14 with 4:42 left in the third, but Oglethorpe was able to push it back out with a 15-5 stretch that gave them a 69-45 lead with 8:37 on the clock. Millsaps cut the lead back to 15 points, 71-56, with 5:38 left, using an 11-2 run to do so. However, the home side put it away from there, pushing out to their largest lead of the game with 10 consecutive points. They led 81-56 with two minutes remaining and never looked back.
"It was a good time to play our best game of the season so far," said Oglethorpe head coach Alex Richey. "We did a good job moving the basketball inside and out in order to get in better shooting rhythm, as well as gain the ability to attack the paint with our forwards. Our energy was the best it had been for the past three weeks, which says a lot about our character as a team after the tough loss on Friday. We want to be playing our best at the end of the year, and today was certainly a big step in the right direction. I couldn't be more proud of our group!"
The Petrels sit tied with Hendrix for third place, one game behind the first-place tie between Millsaps and Birmingham-Southern, headed into the final game of the regular season. They'll take on Berry at 6 p.m. Saturday evening from Dorough Field House to close out the season before heading to the SAA Tournament. The Petrels could finish anywhere from second to fourth in the league, depending on results at various sites on Saturday.