Fort Wayne, IN-Jaci Bigham flat-out willed ORU to a victory Saturday afternoon, scoring eight points in just over a minute, plucking a crucial steal with time winding down and draining the game-winning free throws to silence the home crowd and lift the Golden Eagles to a thrilling 76-74 come-from-behind victory over IPFW at the Gates Sports Center.

Heading into the afternoon with an unblemished 9-0 record in Summit League play, ORU knew it would have its hands full with the second-ranked Mastodons. The Golden Eagles opened the first 20 minutes on a tear, as Kevi Luper scored nine of ORU's first 16 points, and the Golden Eagles eventually built a 15 point (41-26) lead with just over a minute to go in the opening half.

A red-hot ORU squad looked to have all of the answers in the second stanza as well, increasing the cushion to as many as 17 (54-37) on a Jordan Pyle layup with 15:42 on the ticker.

Pyle's bucket would prove to be the last for the Golden Eagles for over five minutes however, as the host Mastodons mounted a furious 19-0 rally which was sparked by nine ORU turnovers on the next 10 possessions.

IPFW drilled five treys over the five minute span and eventually took their first lead of the game on a Jordan Zuppe long-ball with 11:06 showing.

It was a slug-fest from that point on, as ORU clawed their way back to tie things up on a pair of occasions, but the suddenly hot-shooting Mastodons would not be denied, increasing the cushion to six points (74-68) with 1:17 to go.

The final minute belonged to Bigham however, as the sophomore guard gave ORU life by sinking an awkward, contested layup with 1:08 left.

Now trailing by four, Bigham scrapped her way to a steal on the defensive end, and drained another tough layup to hush the rowdy crowd and bring the Golden Eagles to within two (74-72) with only 31 seconds showing on the ticker.

With only a one second difference on the shot clock, ORU was forced to foul and take their chances with the Mastodon free throw shooting.

Zuppe, a 92 percent free throw shooter on the season, missed the front end of a 1-1. Grasping the opportunity, Bigham snatched the rebound out of the air, drove the length of the court and knotted the contest up with a left handed fast break lay-in.

Down to just 14 seconds on the clock, a scrambling IPFW team inbounded to Zuppe, who attempted to advance the ball past half court for one last attempt. In her final display of heroics, Bigham notched a clean strip of Zuppe's dribble, streaked toward the basket and drew a foul with just three ticks remaining.

Capping off her miracle-minute, Bigham sank the first of two shots to give ORU their first lead since the 11 minute mark. Things were going so well for the 5-6 sophomore, that her attempt at an intentional miss on the second free throw managed to bank in.

Trailing by two with three seconds remaining, the hosts had one last gasp of hope, but a Stephanie Rosado three point attempt rimmed out as the buzzer sounded.

By the time the smoke had cleared, Bigham had stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, 11 assists, five steals and five rebounds.

Bigham and Pyle controlled the final 20 minutes for ORU, scoring all but two of the Golden Eagles 33 second half points.

Pyle led all scorers with a season-best 25 points on 11-15 shooting, while gobbling up eight rebounds and grabbing two steals in the victory.

Anne Boese paced IPFW with 24 points on a 7-13 shooting clip from beyond the arc.

ORU finished the contest shooting 55 percent and outrebounding the Mastodons 35-31.

With the victory the Golden Eagle win streak marches on, as ORU moves to nine in a row, 14-7 on the year and 10-0 in conference. IPFW drops to 13-6 and 7-3 in Summit play.

ORU is back in action this Monday, as they travel to Rochester, Michigan to face the Oakland Golden Grizzlies at 5:30 p.m.