TULSA,
Okla. �€" Oral Roberts University
women�€™s basketball team outscored Oakland 37-20
in the second half and went on to down the Golden Grizzlies, 72-55,
in the Mid-Continent Conference Championship on Tuesday afternoon
at the UMAC. With the win, the Golden Eagles earn the automatic bid
to the NCAA Tournament.
ORU
(22-10) was down by as many as eight points in the first half.
Oakland went up 19-11 after a 3-pointer by Hanna Reising at the
11:49 mark. OU (19-12) would hold at least a five point advantage
over the course of the next five minutes.
Mid-Con
Tournament MVP Elisha Turek (Council Bluffs, Iowa)
scored off a jumper and a lay-up to decrease
OU�€™s advantage to 24-23. ORU went up, 28-26, at
the 4:31 mark off a jumper by Turek.
The
Golden Eagles looked like they were going to go into halftime with
a lead but Oakland�€™s Piggott made a jumper with
only four seconds remaining in the half to knot it up at 35-35.
Turek
and Jenny Hardin (Claremore, Okla.) led both teams
in scoring at halftime with 10 points a-piece. ORU shot at a 48.3
percent clip and went 5-of-9 (55.6%) from beyond the arc. On the
other hand, Oakland shot 53.6 percent and was led in scoring by
Piggott with eight.
Rachel Watman (Sydney, Australia) drained a
3-pointer on ORU�€™s opening possession in the
second half for a 38-35 Golden Eagle lead. OU would not get any
closer the rest of the game.
Another
3-pointer by Watman with 14:23 left stretched the Golden Eagle lead
to 49-39 as ORU started to separate themselves from Oakland.
OU
would make a small rally after a 3-pointer by Jessica Pike followed
by another trey from Piggott made it a 56-51 ORU lead.
For the
second straight day, Oral Roberts would come through down the
stretch by making 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. The Golden
Eagles ended the game with an 8-0 run after two free throws by
Hardin increased ORU�€™s advantage to 72-55.
Turek
and Watman finished with 18 points each and Hardin punched 15
points off the bench.
The
Golden Eagles shot 46 percent in the game and finished the day with
a 58.8 percent clip (10-of-17) from long range.
Oakland
was led by Pike with 18 points while Piggott tallied 11.
ORU
will return to action in the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles
will find out their destination and opponent next Monday during the
Selection Show on ESPN at 5:00 p.m. central time.
-ORU-
