No. 6 Point Park's playoff run ends with loss at No. 2 Oakland City in RSC semis

OAKLAND CITY, Ind. -- No. 6 seed Point Park University had its playoff run end in the River States Conference Women's Basketball Championship semifinals on Saturday with a 74-55 loss at No. 2 seed Oakland City (Ind.) University.

The Pioneers finished their season with a record of 19-9 overall and their first trip to the conference semifinals in nine years. It was also the first time in five years that Point Park made the playoffs in back to back years. 

Oakland City (23-6) marched onto the RSC Championship finals in a game in which neither team shot well but the Mighty Oaks rode an early lead to victory. Oakland City plays at No. 1 Rio Grande (Ohio) in the finals on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.

Point Park was the only team in the RSC men or women not as top-four seed in the semifinals. The Pioneers got there with Wednesday's upset win at No. 3 St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.). 

Gabriella Legister with one final double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds and Alexis Giles 12 points led the Pioneers starters. Aichata Ballo pitched in 16 points off the bench. Ari Bleda had eight points and tied for team-high with 12 boards.

The Mighty Oaks got 18 points and four treys from Emilee Hope. She hit a pair the first couple of minutes to get OCU off to a great start. Jalaya Dowell with 11 and Gabrielle Joyner (12) and Tabatha Klem (10) gave the Oaks four in double figures. 

Oakland City got out to a 21-9 lead to take early control. The Pioneers managed to get within 38-25 by the half to get into position for the third. 

The Pioneers put together a 9-2 run to start the second half. Giles converted a 3-point play, and Legister scored inside off an assist from Coral Homs to finish off the run.

That made the score 40-34, which was the best chance for Point Park. A cold patch that had caught the Pioneers in the first half cropped up again as the Mighty Oaks ended the quarter on a run of their own. 

Oakland City shot 37 percent for the game, which was slightly better than Point Park at 34 percent. The teams combined for only six makes from 3-point range. 

Rebounds were pretty event with OCU up 52-49 on the glass. Turnover swung in favor of the Mighty Oaks with Point Park 23 compared to 14 for OCU.