The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 76 – Wichita State 74
Record: ORU (7-4) – Wichita State (4-8)
Location: Charles Koch Arena (Wichita, Kansas)

WICHITA, Kan. – The Oral Roberts women's basketball team defeated Wichita State, 76-74, in dramatic fashion after Meghan Weinrich converted on the game-winning layup with 4.2 seconds remaining Wednesday night inside Charles Koch Arena.

The Golden Eagles are off to their best start to a season since 2017 as they enter conference play with a 7-4 record.

Weinrich put together the best performance of her ORU career as the junior guard notched career-highs in points (14), rebounds (8), assists (4), steals (3), and blocks (2).

Ruthie Udoumoh continues her dominant run as the senior notched her fourth consecutive double-double. Finishing the contest with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and three steals, Udoumoh was a force in the fourth quarter as she scored 12 of her 16 points in the final ten minutes to help lead the Golden Eagles to the win.

Jalei Oglesby scored a team-high 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting. The Howe, Oklahoma native consistently provides a spark off the bench for ORU and did that again against the Shockers. Tonight's performance marks the third time this season that Oglesby has crossed the 20 point mark.

Taleyah Jones (11) and Hannah Cooper (10) rounded out the quartet of double-digits for the Golden Eagles. Jones relentlessly crashed the glass as she pulled down six offensive rebounds. Cooper came up in the clutch as she drained her first three of the game with 1:41 left to give ORU its first lead of the fourth quarter.

The first quarter opened with both teams making back-and-forth baskets. Weinrich scored the first five points for ORU after making a pullup jumper on the block and then connecting on her first three pointer of the season. WSU held a slight 11-9 lead after the first media timeout. Oglesby and Udoumoh kept the Golden Eagles within striking distance before a second Weinrich three gave ORU its first lead of the game with 1:53 left in the quarter. ORU closed out the first ten minutes of play up 19-17.

A pair of free throws from Jones and midrange jumper from Oglesby stretched the Golden Eagles' lead out to six, their largest of the game. The Shockers responded with a 4-0 burst to make it a one possession game. Oglesby and Jones converted two more times inside the paint to lead 28-23 at the media timeout. Both teams traded field goals for the remainder of the second quarter as ORU went into the break up 35-34.

WSU began to find its way on offense as they put together a 6-0 run to open the half. Jones ended the run with a jumper in the paint, but the Shockers went right back to work and rattled off another 9-0 run. This run stretched from the 6:00 minute mark all the way to the 3:13 minute mark. Weinrich finally brought it to an end with a pair of free throw makes. Both programs traded buckets in the final three minutes of play, but WSU held a double-digit lead going into the fourth quarter up 56-45.

Freshman Emily Robinson opened the fourth quarter scoring with a strong drive to the rim for two, but the Shockers responded with back-to-back buckets to put them up 14 with 8:19 left, their largest lead of the game. At this moment, the Golden Eagles flipped a switch and ramped up their defensive intensity and offensive effort. Oglesby fueled a 16-2 run over the span over 4:10 minutes of game time to even the score 63-63. Oglesby scored eight and Udoumoh added six during the run. Daniela Abies put WSU back up three after scoring on a layup and the foul. With 1:41 left in the game, Cooper hit her first three pointer of the evening after a drive and kickout from Weinrich. Cooper's three gave ORU its first lead of the fourth quarter.

With 43 seconds remaining, Udoumoh scored on a layup in the paint to make it a two possession game. Sierra Morrow and the Shockers refused to go away though, as Morrow drained a three to bring WSU back within one. Following a pair of clutch free throws from Cooper, the Shockers once again found Morrow on a side out of bounds play as she banked in a three. The Golden Eagles calmly inbounded the ball as Cooper brought it up the court. Coach Musick elected not to use her final timeout and trusted her team to execute on the final play. Cooper hit Weinrich on a dribble handoff and then Weinrich drove straight to the basket through traffic as she converted the layup to put ORU up two. With 4.2 seconds remaining, the Shockers quickly drove up the court where DJ McCarty got a clean look, but missed to the right giving ORU the come-from-behind win inside Charles Koch Arena.

The Leaders
 
Oral Roberts: Oglesby scored a team-high 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Udoumoh pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds on the way to her fourth straight double-double. Weinrich dished out a season-high four assists.
 
Wichita State: Forward Sierra Morrow led all scorers with a 29 point outing. Morrow also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds while Tre'Zure Jobe tallied seven assists for the Shockers.

Inside the Box Score

• Five Golden Eagles landed in double-figure scoring led by Oglesby (20), Udoumoh (16), Weinrich (14), Jones (11), and Cooper (10).
• Oglesby posted a game-high +14 plus/minus rating.
• ORU's bench continues to be a productive as they outscored the WSU bench 21-13.
• The Golden Eagles relentless effort shined tonight as they outscored the Shockers 31-18 in the final quarter of play.
• ORU doubled WSU in fastbreak points outscoring them 12-6.
• The Golden Eagles came through in the clutch shootitng 68.8% and forcing five Shocker turnovers in the fourth quarter alone.
• ORU battled foul trouble all evening as three Golden Eagles tallied four fouls.
• Cooper played all 40 minutes in tonight's contest.
• Jones went a perfect 3-of-3 from the free throw line to boost her percentage to 92.5% on the year.

Up Next
 
The Golden Eagles will take a short break for the holidays before returning to the court on December 29th to face Kansas City at 7:00 p.m. from the Mabee Center.
 
For the latest information on ORU women's basketball, follow @ORUWBB on X or go to www.ORUAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on the team by downloading the ORU Athletics App in the Google Play or App Store.