SLOW START: Owasso surges to 17-4 lead, BHS rallies but falls

With three starters out -- including one of the team's two leading scorers -- the Bartlesville High School Lady Bruins turned in an A-grade effort Friday at Owasso High School.

But, the Lady Bruins (6-10) could do little to make up for the drain of experience and production in the 60-41 loss to the Owasso Lady Rams.

Micah Chambers and Kenzie Denny pumped 14 and 13 points through the net, respectively, to lead Bartlesville's valiant effort. Grace McPhail followed with six points, Alayah Lunn tallied four and Emma Zimmerman scored three.

Chrinasia Elbert pumped in 20 points for Owasso, while Makenna Yokley added 17.

Lady Bruin fans informed about the game details should know this - Bartlesville made a tremendous first-half rally that nearly turned the contest around.

But, to their credit, the Owasso Lady Rams survived the massive Lady Bruin storm - barely - and turned the momentum back in their favor during a 17-2 run in the third quarter.

Perhaps the Lady Bruins simply fell short of energy with the burden of the battle falling on just five girls.

Owasso zipped out to a 9-0 lead ot open the game, until Zimmerman netted a basket to get Bartlesville on the board.

Chambers would score the Lady Bruins only other points in the first quarter as they fell behind, 17-4.

But, Bartlesville began its combustible comeback in the second quarter,ignited by McPhail's three-pointer. During a brief spurt, Bartlesville made up seven points in a few seconds on a deuce by Lunn, a trey by Chambers and two Denny free throws.

Halftime saw the Lady Bruins trail only by six points, 29-23.

They continued their revival early in the third quarter, with back-to-back scoring possessions by Bartlesville (Zimmerman and McPhail) to slice what had been a 16-point Owasso lead down to two points, 29-27.

But, then it was if a power outage afflicted the Lady Bruins.They scored only 14 points the rest of the game fell by 19 points.

Bartlesville (6-10) plays host Tuesday to Sand Springs - the Lady Bruins first home game in two weeks.

They are scheduled to be back home Thursday to take on non-ranked Tulsa Union.