Oakland City Completes Comeback to Top Red Wolves

RICHMOND, Ind. – The IU East women's basketball team came out red-hot from beyond the arc in the first quarter against Oakland City to the tune of a 33-14 lead.

But the Mighty Oaks outscored the Red Wolves in the next three quarters and escaped with an 85-75 win over the Red Wolves.

The loss drops IU East to 9-16 on the season and 4-11 in conference. Oakland City improved to 18-6 and 14-1 respectively.

Kennedy Griffin made 4 all four of her three-pointers in the first quarter. Leading 6-3 after the first two minutes, Griffin hit three straight 3-pointers  to give the Red Wolves a 15-3 lead. Taylor Farris made two layups to increase their lead to 21-3 and Davina Smith added a layup for a 21-3 lead. In the second quarter, the Red Wolves increased their lead to 39-16 after Farris hit another triple.

But that's when the Mighty Oaks started their comeback.

In the last 1:28 in the second quarter, Oakland City turned up the heat defensively, forcing two turnovers and not letting the Red Wolves score for the last 4:13 to trim the deficit by 10 points at the halftime break.

The Mighty Oaks kept chipping away at their deficit and grabbed their first lead of the game with 4:39 to go in the game, as they led 75-73. Farris made a layup to tie the game at 75-75.

But the Mighty Oaks hit a triple and kept the lead for good and didn't let the Red Wolves score in the last four minutes.

Farris scored a team-high 24 points. Davina Smith scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Griffin added 17 points and Caitlin McEldowney had 10.

The Red Wolves will travel to Brescia on Saturday.