ALEXANDRIA, La. – The Louisiana Christian University women's basketball team knew it had a tough task in the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal, facing off against the overall #1 seed in Our Lady of the Lake, but too many turnovers proved costly as the Wildcats 2021-22 season ended with a 70-54 loss to the Saints Monday afternoon at the Rapides Parish Coliseum.
 
While the Wildcats would not lead in the contest, in the early going they showed they were up for the fight. After getting down 4-0, LCU scored four straight to get back on even terms as Claire Borot got behind the pack for a fastbreak bucket off a rebound by Kieyoomia Benally. After the Saints scored the next five, LCU answered right back with five of its own as Paola Abad Prieto found Miya McKinney inside for a lay-up and a Benally three-pointer tied the game at 9-9 with 3:40 left in the first quarter. But the Saints locked down the defense and the turnovers started to mount, allowing OLLU to go on a 10-2 run to open a 19-11 lead before Kayla Kinney hit one of two at the stripe to end the scoring in the period, making it 19-12 Saints heading to the second quarter.
 
OLLU hit a jumper to score the first two points of the period, but the Wildcats answered with four straight as Abad Prieto scored back-to-back lay-up to make it a five-point game at 21-16 with eight minutes left before halftime. But that's where the Saints opened the game up, going on a 12-2 run to up the OLLU lead to 33-18 with less than four minutes left before halftime. LCU cut it to 12 following a Benally lay-up that made it 33-21, but OLLU answered with a three of its own to reclaim the 15-point advantage at 36-21 at the break.
 
Claire Borot opened the third quarter with a three-pointer to get the Wildcats back within 12, but that would be the closest LCU would get the rest of the way. The Saints slowly opened the advantage further, getting it to 19 with 5:40 remaining in the period. LCU worked the deficit down to 15 points several times throughout the remainder of period, the final time coming off of a pair of Kayla Kinney free throws that made it 49-34 Saints with 3:11 left in the period, but OLLU scored the quarter's final six points, including a three at the buzzer, to push the Wildcat deficit above 20 points for the first time at 55-34.
 
The Saints pushed the lead out to 24 points, 62-38, with 6:30 left before the Wildcats went on a run to make the deficit more manageable. Miya McKinney hit a pair of free throws to kick off a 16-4 run that McKinney ended with a three-point play which cut the deficit down to 12 at 66-54, but by then there was just 30 seconds left and the Saints made a couple free throws to extend out the final margin.
 
Miya McKinney led the Wildcats on the day as she made six of her ten field goal attempts and converted on all five of her free throws to finish the game with 17 points as well as eight rebounds. Claire Borot went six-of-nine, including four-of-six from three as she finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Kieyoomia Benally rounded out the leading scorers with 12 points while also grabbing seven boards. Paola Abad Prieto grabbed seven rebounds as well.
 
LCU actually out-shot the Saints in terms of percentage, hitting on 40% of their shots while OLLU hit 38.6%, but the Wildcats were plagued by turnovers, giving it up ten more times than the Saints did, which gave OLLU a 24-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
The Wildcats finish their inaugural season in the NAIA and Red River Athletic Conference with an 18-9 record, finishing 11-5 in conference play, which is the highest number of wins both overall and in conference play since 2016-17.