by TULSA, Okla. – The Oral Roberts women’s basketball team evened up the season series with the Denver Pioneers Wednesday evening earning a 74-66 win at the Mabee Center.
The Golden Eagle defense came out and made a statement in the first quarter coming out and getting seven steals in the opening 10 minutes of play and forcing eight turnovers. ORU out-scored Denver 20-13 in the first before going on a 4:20 scoring drought in the second period. Denver went on an 8-0 run to take a one point lead with 4:37 to go in the second. ORU responded with a 13-0 run of its own that was then extended to a 17-4 run to close out the first half. Regan Schumacher had the final points of the half with a big offensive rebound and put back to put ORU up 42-30 at the break.
ORU shot 33 percent overall from the field in the second half, but took its largest lead of the night by 15 with 8:18 to go in the fourth quarter. Denver hit three consecutive three-point buckets on back-to-back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to five with 2:50 to play. Lakota Beattyhit a long-range shot of her own to take an eight point lead. Down the stretch, Beatty, Jordan Gilbert and Maya Mayberry went 6-for-6 from the free throw line to keep the lead at eight.
Three Golden Eagles scored in double-digits in the game. Beatty led the team with 24 points going 9-for-21 overall and 4-for-11 from three-point range. Montserrat Brotons and Keni Jo Lippe each had 12 points. Brotons went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and Lippe went to the charity stripe nine times and connected on seven of them. ORU shot 39.1 percent in the game and 77.3 percent from the free throw line.
Madison Nelson led the Pioneers with 16 points and eight rebounds. Lauren Loven started 4-for-6 from the three-point line in the first half and finished the night 5-for-9 and 5-for-12 overall for 15 points. Samantha Romanowski recorded 10 points of her own as the Pioneers shot 43.9 percent overall and 40 percent from the three-point line. Denver shot 75 percent overall in the fourth quarter.
THE LEADERS
Oral Roberts: Beatty had 24 points while Lippe and Schumacher each had seven rebounds.
Denver: Nelson led Denver with 16 points and eight rebounds.
