TULSA, Okla. �€" With the game tied and under eight
seconds remaining in the second half, Oakland's Anne Hafeli drove
the length of the court and beat the buzzer from 15 feet to give
the visitors a 72-70 victory in a Mid-Continent Conference
thriller, Monday night at the Mabee Center.
The game was tied with under a minute to go, when Rachel
Watman (Sydney, Australia) sank a pair of free throws to
give ORU (12-11, 6-6) took a two-point lead, 70-68, with 0:56
remaining. Jenny Hardin (Claremore, Okla.) came up
big on the other end, blocking a Hafeli lay up attempt, but the
ball went out of bounds, giving the Golden Grizzlies (11-12, 7-5)
another chance to tie things up.
Jayme Wilson took the in bounds pass and knocked down a base line
jumper, forcing the game's eighth tie at 70-70 with just 0:39 to
play. The Golden Eagles ran the clock down to under 15 seconds, but
an Elisha Turek (Council Bluffs, Iowa) jumper
rimmed out and Wilson collected the rebound to set up the final
sequence.
ORU trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, but they
out-scored Oakland 9-2 over the final 4:15 to go into halftime down
just one point, 33-32.
The Golden Eagles trailed by two early in the second half when
Sarah Davidson (New South Wales, Australia)
collected a Turek miss and put it back in to tie the game and spark
a 13-4 ORU spurt.
Turek capped the run with a baseline jumper at the 14:38 mark,
giving the Golden Eagles their largest lead at 48-41. She finished
the night with a game-high 24 points and tied a season-high with 13
rebounds for her 34th career double-double and the 6th this
year.
The visitors put together an 8-0 run of their own later in the
half, taking a 56-55 lead with 8:00 to play. The game would sea-saw
with three ties and three lead changes over the next seven minutes
to set the stage for the dramatic ending.
The Golden Eagles out-rebounded their opponents 37-26, while also
holding a 20-11 advantage on second chance points. The Golden
Grizzlies forced 18 ORU miscues, however, turning them into an
extra 18 points.
Hardin scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting for the Golden Eagles,
adding nine boards in 37 minutes of work. Davidson came off the
bench to chip in with 12 tallies, four rebounds and a pair of
steals.
Nicole Piggott led Oakland with 19 points, while Hafeli added 18
points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
ORU will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as they travel to
UMKC for a 4:00 p.m. tip.
--ORU--
Game Notes: With 773 career rebounds,
Elisha Turek has now moved into 7th place on the
Mid-Con's all-time list ... Sarah Davidson's two
three-point baskets bring her career total to 69 long bombs, the
10th highest mark in school history ... ORU's Marianna
Camargo suffered a broken nose during tonight's contest
when Oakland's April Kidd went for a steal late in the first
half.
