Purdue Fort Wayne
Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts Tops IPFW 78-71
1/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2009
Tulsa, OK – Despite career-high scoring nights from sophomores Chelsey Jackson and Sarah Haluska, the IPFW Mastodons were unable to snap their seven-game losing skid, falling to the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts University 78-71.
Jackson made 10-of-12 free throws and scored a career-high 22 points, while Haluska made a career-high five three-point baskets, scoring 19 points while pulling down a game-high nine rebounds.
Jackson added eight rebounds, while Eva Ivanova pulled down seven rebounds and dished out a team-best five assists. Jordan Zuppe added 10 points, with Courtney Reed missing double figures by just one by scoring nine.
Oral Roberts jumped out quickly, leading 8-0 over the first two minutes of the game, and led 10-2 before the ‘Dons mounted a comeback, cutting the deficit to one at 14-13, with the finishing touches of the 11-4 run coming on Reed’s second three-point basket of the streak.
ORU pushed ahead by seven at 23-16 before IPFW went on a 6-0 run on long-range baskets by Zuppe and Reed, once again cutting the deficit to a single point at 23-22 with just over five minutes left in the opening frame.
After the ‘Dons cut the deficit, the host Golden Eagles opened a 12-3 run to take their largest first-half lead at 10 (35-25), with IPFW able to cut the gap down to six heading into the locker room at halftime at 37-31.
IPFW opened the second half on a 10-4 run, capped by a pair of Zuppe free throws that tied the game at 41 apiece. The teams went back-and-forth, trading baskets, with an ORU basket being matched by IPFW, as the teams were tied at 48, the fourth tie score of the game, until a 7-0 Golden Eagle run pushed the hosts ahead by just over a half dozen.
IPFW would not back down, scoring the next six points to once again close the gap to a single point at 55-54, but as was the story of the game, Oral Roberts pushed ahead again, as IPFW’s deficit would only close as low as three the rest of the way, with the Golden Eagles hitting 8-of-12 free throws down the stretch to ice the game in the seven-point ORU victory.
The ‘Dons, who recently saw themselves rise to fifth in the country in three-point baskets per game, made 11-of-38 three-point attempts, increasing their average. For just the third time this season, IPFW out-rebounded its opponent, pulling down 39 rebounds to 33 for Oral Roberts.
IPFW was out-scored 40-12 in the paint, including a 22-0 deficit at the half, with the ‘Dons bench out-scoring ORU’s 11-4.
Oral Roberts had three players at or near the 20-point plateau, as Janae Voelker and Mariana Camargo each scored 21, with Georgia Jones pouring in 19, with the trio scoring 61 of the team’s 78 points. Voelker and Jordan Pyle pulled down seven rebounds apiece, with Jones dishing out a game-high six assists.
The ‘Dons follow by hosting three of their next four games, with first of the trio coming on Saturday, January 17, when the squad hosts conference co-leader Oakland University in the first game of a women’s/men’s double header, with tip-off on the early game set for 4:30 PM.
~Dons~
