TULSA - For
the second-straight year, junior Rachel
Watman dominated The Summit League championship game, scoring
23 points to push the No. 4-seeded Oral Roberts' Golden Eagles
(19-13) to its second-consecutive league tournament title. With the
win, ORU earns the program's fifth NCAA Tournament bid.
To add to her 23 points,
Watman tacked on five rebounds and five steals which was more than
enough to earn the Sydney, Australia native the Most Valuable
Player honor. Sophomore Janae
Voelker was named to the all-tournament team after a 12-point,
five rebound performance. Voelker tied her career-high of four
three-point field goals in a game. Junior Demesha
Heard scored 10 points in the win.
Julia Whitted led IUPUI with
15 points and 10 rebounds to collect her 12th double-double of the
season, while Nicole James tossed in 14 points for the Jags.
Both teams were even in
every category after the first half, but ORU turned up the heat in
the second half, finishing with 10 steals to IUPUI's eight and 15
assists to the Jags eight. The Golden Eagles were 9-of-20 from
three-point range, while the Jaguars were held to only one
three-pointer (1-of-13) the entire game.
The first half was a battle
for both teams, swapping leads three times and tying four. Voelker
opened the game nailing a three from the corner to give the Golden
Eagles the early lead, but IUPUI scored six-straight and led for
the next eight minutes. ORU regained the lead with a Watman layup
at the 11:52 mark and eventually extended that lead to 21-17 with
Voelker's second trey of the game.
The Jaguars' Farren
Stackhouse scored IUPUI's only three-pointer of the first half to
get within one of ORU. From that point, the lead changed eight
times in the final eight minutes with the Golden Eagles settling
for the one-point advantage at halftime.
IUPUI opened the second half
with the first basket, but two-straight Voelker three-pointers and
a Watman free-throw gave ORU its biggest lead of the game at seven,
47-38 with 11:55 left in the game. The Jags attempted a comeback
with an 8-3 scoring drive, but they could not stop the three as
Watman hit her third of the second half to to bring their run to a
streak. Three of ORU's next four makes were all three-pointers.
ORU outscored IUPUI 13-7
down the stretch to win the their second-straight tournament
championship, 66-53.
The Golden Eagles will have
to wait until March 17, known as "Selection Monday", to find out
its destination and first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament,
which begins Saturday, March 22.
-ORU-
