STILLWATER,
Okla. - Even with a career-high 23 points by Janae Voelker, the Golden Eagles (7-5) couldn't
find a way to stop the No. 24/25 ranked team in the country,
falling to the Oklahoma State Cowgirls 65-83 inside Gallagher-Iba
Arena. This is the third-straight loss for the Golden Eagles, their
longest losing streak of the season.
Voelker, a Newton, Kan.,
native, was 10-18 from field-goal range and knocked down two trey's
in the game to hit her career and game-high. Junior Jenny Hardin was the only other Golden Eagle to
score in double-digits, scoring 17 points and grabbing nine boards
in the loss.
Oklahoma State (11-1) was
led by senior Danielle Green, who finished with a team-high 22
points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Andrea Riley put up 19 points,
after being held to only one in the first half, while senior Maria
Cordera finished the game with 15 points and five boards.
The Cowgirls' Taylor
Hardeman came out hot, hitting back-to-back trey's to give OSU the
6-2 advantage early in the first half. Sophomore Janae Voelker was the only Golden Eagle to score
for ORU in the first four minutes, hitting two jumpers to close the
gap to 4-6.
OSU would go on a 5-0 run to
extend their lead to 6-13, before the Golden Eagles would make a
run of their own to get within four of the Cowgirls, 10-13. OSU's
Maria Cordero would find some easy layins with nine minutes left in
the first half to give the Cowgirls a five-point boost, but Voelker
would continue to find her hot spot, nailing a three in the corner
to close the OSU lead to only four, 17-21.
With five minutes left in
the first half, Whitney Wehmeyer would come out and hit
back-to-back three-pointers to get within two of the Cowgirls to
give ORU much-needed momentum. But that would switch quickly as OSU
would go on a 15-3 run, six of those points coming from Shyvon
Spears, to climb to a 44-28 lead at the half.
The Golden Eagles would open
up the second half on a 7-3 run, aided by Voelker's three-point
play at the 17:38 mark, but OSU's Andrea Riley would hit
two-straight trey's to give them the 52-38 lead. Both teams would
stay scoreless for nearly four minutes until the Golden Eagles
would go on a 6-0 scoring spurt to close the OSU lead to only 10,
44-54, with 10 minutes to go.
The Cowgirls would finally
find the basket again, hitting thier next four baskets and hold ORU
to zero points to regain their 10-plus point lead and extend that
to 18 points with Andrea Riley's third three of the game with 3:14
left to play. Voelker would foul out at the 2:52 mark after scoring
a career-high 23 points. Both teams would trade baskets the
remainder of the game and the Cowgirls would come out victorious,
defeating ORU 83-65 to keep their home winning-streak alive.
The Golden Eagles will wrap
up non-conference play on New Years Day with a 2 p.m. tip off
against Texas Pan-American in Edinburg, Texas.
-ORU-
