Women Rout Ozarks
AC Men 80 Ozarks Men 83 (OT)
The Austin College men fought back furiously form a 32-40 half time deficit to force the University of the Ozarks Eagles to overtime, but were unable to close the deal, losing 83-80.
After forcing overtime at 69-69 AC and Ozarks traded leads, until the Roos were forced to foul. The Eagles hit on 12-14 free throws in OT and connected on 6 of their last 7 under one minute to play to seal the win.
Sophomore Adam Shor paced the Roos with game highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds. Junior J.P. Johnson and freshman Kyle May each added 16 points for AC. Junior Chris Caudle rounded out the double figure scorers for Austin College with 12 points.
The Eagles (10-13, 7-5) were led by Jacob Sibley with 17 points. Josh Joyner and Brent Johnson each dropped in 15 for Ozarks, while Mike Taylor (12 pts) and David Hamilton (11 pts) also netted double figures.
The Roos drop to 4-18 on the season and 2-10 in conference action.
AC Women 72 Ozarks Women 40
The AC women came out fast and put away the University of the Ozark women by halftime, taking a 43-23 lead by the intermission en route to a 72-40 rout. AC scored the first point of the game on a Kayla Smiley free throw and never looked back.
Junior guard Velencia Johnson led the charge for AC finishing with game highs of 15 points and seven boards. Freshman Stephanie Knudson was the only other player to break into double figures, scoring 10 points for the Roos.
Ozarks (8-15, 4-8) was led by six points each from Mandi Carter and Becky Kimball.
With the win the Roos (16-7, 10-2) clinch a spot in the American Southwest Conference tournament next week.
Both men’s and women’s programs will finish the regular season this weekend with home contests against the University of Texas-Dallas (Thursday 19th) and the University of Texas-Tyler (Saturday 21st).