The final contest of the 2023-24 Blossom Basketball season took place on Saturday, March 2, at Steelman Fieldhouse with the Blossoms hosting Ouachita Baptist University.
The Blossoms returned to Steelman Fieldhouse after a three game road trip that began on February 22 in Bethany, Oklahoma against Southern Nazarene.
Haliegh Crews would lead the way for the Blossoms against Southern Nazarene with 14 points followed by Bailey Harris with 12, and Azaria Hulbert with 11 in the 63-51 loss.
Also adding points was Alyssia Thorne with six, Alindsey Long with four, Kelsey Blakemore with three, and Thailan Payne with one.
From Bethany, the Blossoms would make a Saturday stop in Shawnee, Oklahoma to face Oklahoma Baptist University.
Against the Lady Bison, the Blossoms would see four players reach double-digits with Crews leading the way with 13, Thorne with 12, Harris with 11, and Hulbert with 10.
Long added six, Nicole Weaver with five, and Blakemore with three.
The Blossoms and Lady Bison were tied at 57 with 1:30 remaining but the Lady Bison would score four points with Crews hitting a three with two seconds left to cut the Lady Bison victory to one point, 61-60.
The Blossoms would travel to their final road game of the season on Thursday, February 29, to Searcy, Arkansas to face Harding University.
After leading Harding 21-15 after the first quarter, Harding would come back to outscore the Blossoms 24-9 in the second quarter to take a 39-30 lead at the half followed by outscoring UAM 22-13 in the third quarter to hold a 61-43 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Harding continued to lead throughout the fourth quarter taking a 75-60 victory.
Bailey Harris led the way with 19 points followed by Haleigh Crews with 14, and Alindsey Long with 12.
Kelsey Blakemore and Azaria Hlbert added six with Alyssia Thorne scoring three.
Hosting Ouachita Baptist in their final contest of the season, the Blossoms would outscore Ouachita 20-18 in the first and 17-12 in the second quarter to take a 38-29 lead at the half.
Returning from the break, Ouachita would outscore the Blossoms 22-16 in the third and 24-21 in the fourth with the contest tied at 75 after four quarters.
In the overtime period, the teams would each share the lead, but Ouachita would outscore the Blossoms by one point in the overtime period to take the 84-83 win.
Long would lead the way with 17 points followed by Harris with 16.
Crews would add 15, Blakemore with 14, and Hulbert with 11.
Alyssia Thorne added eight and Nicole Weaver finished with two.
The Blossoms would finish the season with an overall record of 8-20 and a Great American Conference record of 4-18.
The Blossoms failed to qualify for the GAC Championship Tournament for the third consecutive season.
