ORU women take revenge on Nicholls
BY JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Friday, February 01, 2013
2/01/13 at 5:19 AM
One that got away?
That could describe two of three Southland Conference defeats the Oral Roberts women's basketball team has absorbed this season.
How do you respond?
You build a lead so big that the opponent can't possibly dig out of the hole.
That's what happened Thursday, when ORU avenged a Jan. 5 loss to Nicholls State by peppering the Colonels 84-56 in a Mabee Center rematch.
In the Jan. 5 game, ORU led 66-65 with 25 seconds left. The Golden Eagles committed turnovers on two of their last three possessions (Nicholls State freshman Emani White was twice credited with steals). The fallout? ORU gave up four points in the last nine seconds of a 69-66 defeat.
In a homecourt loss Saturday to McNeese State. ORU led by three points with 1:07 left, but two turnovers in the last two minutes kept McNeese State close enough for a game-deciding put-back shot.
If that was agonizing, the Golden Eagles quickly transitioned to antagonizing, leading Nicholls State by as many as 33 points.
"I think we were disappointed in the game up there in Thibodaux and our game last Saturday," senior point guard Jaci Bigham said. "Obviously we didn't want it to be that close."
Bigham indicated that she and her teammates had execution issues in those games. The Golden Eagles gave up 18 offensive rebounds in their loss to McNeese State.
"We really focused on rebounding this week in practice, and we didn't want it to be a factor at the end of the game," she said.
Kevi Luper collected a season-high 10 rebounds and added 22 points for the first double-double of her senior season. Bigham scored 20 points to go along with seven assists, and Sarah Shelton (14 points, 10 rebounds) produced her third consecutive double. Freshman Taylor Cooper scored all 12 of her points after halftime.
ORU improved to 9-10 overall and 6-3 in Southland games. Nicholls State dropped to 12-8 and 4-5.
The game matched the teams with the two best field goal percentages in the Southland Conference. ORU delivered, hitting 53.2 percent of its field goal attempts. Nicholls shot 36.4 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from 3-point range.
Jimmie Tramel 918 581-8389
jimmie.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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