The Lady Bears finished their regular season in Joplin, Mo. on Saturday afternoon against #7 Ozark Christian College. The Bears rode a wave of momentum into the game and looked to build on that momentum heading into the Midwest Christian College Conference Tournament that loomed right around the corner.

The game started pretty even with both teams struggling to hit shots and, after one quarter, Ozark narrowly led 11-15. The second quarter saw the Ambassadors take control of the game with 3-point shots and steals. They would outscore the Bears by 10 in the second quarter to hold a 17-31 halftime lead.

“We reverted back to the mistakes we were making the first semester,” said head coach Ryan Kendall. “I’ve been preaching clean basketball for the past couple of months and we were very sloppy in the first half with way too many turnovers. Ozark didn’t shoot the ball very well in the first half but they got off 14 more shots than we did because we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds and turnovers.”

The second half started a bit like the first, but after settling down, the Bears would outscore Ozark Christian 47- 41 on 54% shooting from the field. Unfortunately, the Lady Bears had dug themselves too deep of a deficit to a nationally ranked team. The Bears came up just a little short, 64-72.

Senior Shandy Edenborough (Goodwell, Okla.) led the Bears with yet another double-double, 23 points and 11 rebounds. Senior RaeLyn Epp (Corn, Okla.) chipped in 15 points with 5 assists and 2 steals and senior Katelyn Ogle (Haviland, Kans.) put in good minutes off the bench with 5 points, 3 assists, and a block.

The Bears travel back to Joplin, Mo. this weekend to play Faith Baptist (Ankeny, Iowa) at 2 pm on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the MCCC Tournament. The Bears beat Faith, 58-42 in their only other match-up of the season.