TULSA,
Okla. �€" Oral Roberts University
women�€™s basketball team used a late 12-0 run to
defeat UMKC, 52-44, in the Mid-Continent Conference
Women�€™s Quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon at
the UMAC.
The
Golden Eagles (20-10) used a team effort to down the Kangaroos to
move on to the semifinals. Four different ORU players scored in
double digits with Elisha Turek (Council Bluffs,
Iowa) scoring a team-high 14 points.
Janae Voelker (Newton, Kan.) sparked the Golden
Eagles with 12 points and six rebounds. Jenny
Hardin (Claremore, Okla.) came off the bench to score 11
points and Rachel Watman (Sydney, Australia) also
scored in double-digits, netting 10 points.
Both
teams started slowly in the first half with Voelker scoring the
first two points of the game from the charity stripe at 17:59 for a
2-0 ORU lead. UMKC (10-20) would go up 3-2 on a 3-pointer by Chazny
Morris. Morris led the game with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting.
The
Kangaroos would hold on to the lead for the majority of the first
half until Turek drained a jumper with 2:38 left for a 26-25 ORU
lead. The Golden Eagles ended the half with a 6-0 run as UMKC did
not score the final 5:25.
ORU led
30-25 at half time despite shooting just 38.7 percent. The Golden
Eagles used a strong defensive effort to hold UMKC to a 33.3
shooting clip and 10 turnovers.
Lay-ups
by Turek and Hardin gave ORU its biggest lead of the game, 34-25,
at 19:03 remaining in the second half. UMKC clawed back scoring 10
straight points to get within one, 36-35, at the 14:50 mark.
The
game would go back and forth for the next nine minutes. UMKC went
up, 44-40, with 5:43 left but ORU responded.
A
3-pointer by Watman cut the UMKC lead to 44-43 and then Turek made
a lay-up with 3:52 remaining to regain the lead for the Golden
Eagles.
ORU�€™s pressure kept UMKC scoreless for the rest
of the game as ORU scored the final 12 points.
With
her 14 points, Turek became the only Mid-Con player to posts 2,000
points and 1,000 rebounds in a career.
ORU
returns to action tomorrow, facing off against Valparaiso in the
semifinals at 2:30 p.m. tip time.
-ORU-
