Before the Haskell Indian Nations University women’s basketball team took the court Friday night at Coffin Complex, coach Phil Homeratha instructed his team to continue using its new offensive strategy: Get the ball inside.

With the additions of 6-foot-3 junior forward Shandra Murdoch and 5-11 senior forward Margaret Stevens at semester, the Haskell women’s team has transformed from a perimeter-oriented team to an inside team.

But despite having a height advantage over College of the Ozarks, Haskell lost, 68-59.

Haskell (9-12) kept the game close the first 10 minutes using quick passing from Murdoch at the high post to Stevens, Whitney Warrior and Melissa Haag. All three slashed to the basket often in the first half and scored on easy layups.

But College of the Ozarks used a 23-5 run to push its lead to 30-17 with just over six minutes to play in the first half.

The Fightin’ Indians easily could have reverted to old form and settled for outside jump shots, but Homeratha wouldn’t let them.

“I wanted to get it inside,” he said. “We needed to get it inside. We have not shot well (from the perimeter). We have pretty much abandoned the three-point shot.”

Murdoch and Haag then combined to score eight of Haskell’s next 10 points.

But College of the Ozarks didn’t abandon the three-point shot. In fact, Ozarks lived off it.

In the first half, Kalyi Combs – who led all scorers with 23 points – hit four threes, and College of the Ozarks connected on 8-of-28 from behind the arc during the game. As the Lady Bobcats’ lead increased to 14 late in the second half, the Indians still ran their offense through Murdoch.

“We have two totally different aspects in the game now with Margaret and I,” Murdoch said.

Haskell's Kortney Smith, left, attempts a shot against College of the Ozark's Josie Sparkman. Haskell fell, 68-59, Friday at home.

Murdoch scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds, but Warrior led the Indians with 16 points. Stevens added 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Kortney Smith scored 10 points and had five assists.

“We knew coming in that their girls weren’t that big,” Smith said. “And we knew we were going to have an advantage inside, and that was pretty much the game plan. Just punch it inside.”

In the men’s game, it was just the opposite. Haskell, playing against the defending NAIA Division II national champs, tried to establish an inside game early, but missed shots in the paint prevented that from happening. And Haskell didn’t fare much better from the outside. The Indians shot a cool 8-for-38 in the first half and 0-for-8 from three.

For the game, Haskell shot 17-for-75 from the floor and just 1-for-19 from three and lost, 82-43.

The lone bright spot for the Indians (3-19) was sophomore forward Ben Carrywater. He had 15 rebounds and scored 14 points, two coming off an alleyoop jam.

“He was terrific tonight,” HINU coach Jamie Morrison said. “The biggest thing was his energy. He put the effort out no matter what the score was.”

Playing hard is something Carrywater said he takes pride in no matter what.

“That’s what I usually do,” Carrywater said. “I’m the garbage man. We just got to come back tomorrow and be ready to play.”

The Haskell men will play Oklahoma Wesleyan at 5 p.m. today at home, after the women’s teams play at 3 p.m.