Sophomore forward Jordan Pyle scored 26 points to lead No. 1 Oral Roberts to a 97-81 win over No. 8 SUU women’s basketball team in the opening round of The Summit League Championships in Sioux Falls, S.D. Saturday afternoon.
"I'm extremely proud of our effort,” women’s basketball head coach JR Payne said, in a Summit League press release. “We executed and played our hearts out."
The T-Birds finished the season with a 7-23 record on the season with the loss, while ORU advances to face the winner between North Dakota State and Missouri-Kansas City, who will play on Sunday.
SUU scored the first two baskets of the game, but never led at any point after the first three minutes of the first half.
The T-Birds went into halftime trailing 48-33 and trailed by as much as 20 points in the first half.
In the second half, ORU jumped out on an early run and led by as much as 25 points before settling with a 16-point victory.
"I thought the tempo of the game was good for us,” Golden Eagles women’s basketball head coach Jerry Finkbeiner said. “We are a team that likes it up and down (the court). I think we had one our poorer shooting nights but credit the (SUU) defense that plays a tricky type of defense.”
Finkbeiner said ORU, which beat the T-Birds 94-70 on Monday, had to make some early adjustments to attack SUU’s defense in the game.
“They really threw our offense off in the first half so credit their coaching staff,” We made some adjustments at halftime and we were better.”
SUU guard Jadie Parsons left the game with 2:09 left in the game with a head injury after crashing into the team’s bench.
The T-Birds shot 43 percent (28-for-65) from the field in the game, while the Golden Eagles shot 47 percent (32-for-68).
Both teams shot 29 percent from 3-point range in the game, but ORU made two extra 3-point shots.
SUU dominated on the rebounds, grabbing 53 rebounds to just 28 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
"We don't shoot a great percentage, which contributes to (the number of rebounds),” Payne said. “But, you don't get that many rebounds without heart.”
The T-Birds outrebounded ORU 27-15 on the offensive glass, which led to 27 second-chance points for the SUU.
"It gives a lot of second-chance points,” junior guard Caitlyn Sears said. “We're not the fastest team, so our strong offensive rebounding helps us get second-chance points."
However, the T-Birds turned the ball over 28 times, which led to 39 points off turnovers for the Golden Eagles. ORU had 17 steals, led by freshman guard Kevi Luper, the nation’s leader in steals, who had four in the game.
"Our style of defense and speed causes problems for our opponents,” Luper said. “We are so much up in your face; we rush them to make decisions."
Sears said the size of the Golden Eagles’ guards made it difficult to bring the ball up the court.
"They bring really good pressure,” she said. “They're really long guards. It's hard to see over that."
SUU junior guard Kaila Goff had 10 turnovers in the game, eight in the first half.
Sears had 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting from the field to lead the T-Birds in a losing effort. Sears also led SUU with seven assists.
Junior forward Challis Pascucci finished with 15 points and nine rebounds for SUU, while junior guard Stephanie Sampson contributed with 11 points, five rebounds and four steals.
Freshman forward Chanel Thorley added eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Five players finished with at least 10 points for ORU, led by Pyle.
Luper added 18 points, while freshman guard Jaci Bigham finished with 11 points.
Senior forward Janae Voelker and freshman forward Savanna Buck added 10 points for Oral Roberts.
All 11 members of SUU’s roster are scheduled to return next season, while five freshmen will join the team.
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