Despite Three-Point Barrage, IPFW falls to Golden Eagles

Wednesday, December 29

Tulsa, Okla.

8:00 PM

Purdue Fort Wayne

7-5 (1-2)

Oral Roberts

6-7 (3-0)

IPFW

Oral Roberts

Anne Boese scored a season-high 25 points in the team's loss to Oral Roberts

Despite Three-Point Barrage, IPFW falls to Golden Eagles

12/29/2010 11:04:12 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BOX SCORE | POSTGAME NOTES (.pdf)

Tulsa, OK - Despite a season-high 17 three-pointers on 44 attempts, the latter a new single-game Summit League record, the IPFW Mastodons fell in conference action to the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts by a 91-78 final score.

IPFW falls to 7-5 on the season, and 1-2 in leage play, while Oral Roberts improves to 6-7, and a conference-leading 3-0 record in league games. IPFW's record, despite the loss, remains as the best start to a season since 2000-01.

Anne Boese scored a season-high 25 points on 7-of-17 shooting from long range, while Jordan Zuppe scored 13 and Amanda Hyde 10.

Zuppe flirted with a triple-double with a season-high nine assists and a career-high-tying eight rebounds, nearly becoming the first player in program history to record double-digits in three separate offensive categories. Stephanie Rosado finished the game with eight points, while Erin Murphy and Chelsey Jackson each scored seven off of the bench. Rosado added seven rebounds, while Jackson had three assists and Kayla Drake three steals.

IPFW's 44 three-point attempts sets a new single-game Summit League record, breaking the previous mark of 42, held by Troy (against Auburn on January 31, 1996) and Oral Roberts (against UMKC on December 7, 2009). The 17 three-point makes are the third most in league single-game history, behind only a pair of Oral Roberts' 18-three-point make games a season ago. The marks also stand as the second-most makes, and the third-most attempts in program history.

Boese's 17 three-point attempts ties the single-game school record held by Zuppe, Jamie Holderman, and Lindy Jones, while the seven makes ties for fourth most in a game in school history, behind a trio of games by Holderman.

IPFW jumped out quickly with a three-pointer by Rosado 30 seconds into the game, and led by as many as four at 9-5 following a Zuppe three-pointer three minutes off of the clock. Oral Roberts proceeded to run off the next 10 points, turning the four-point deficit into a six-point lead over the next three minutes.

The Mastodons closed to within a pair at 17-15 following a Boese long-range jumper with just over 13 minutes to play in the opening half, but that would be as close as IPFW would get the rest of the way. The first-half IPFW deficit grew to as many as 14 with 1:12 before halftime, before a pair of Murphy free throws closed the gap to a dozen heading into the locker room at halftime.

A Zuppe three-pointer to open the half closed the gap to nine, and the margin remained at nine through the 14:19 mark of the final period, with IPFW trailing 59-50 before ORU went on a 13-3 run to push the Golden Eagle lead to its high-water mark of 19 at 72-53.

With ORU ahead by 19 at 82-63 with 5:32 left in the game, the Mastodons scored the next 12 points to close the gap to seven at 82-75 with 1:33 remaining on the clock. With IPFW forced to foul, Oral Roberts iced the game by making seven-of-eight free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 91-78 victory.

IPFW made 25-of-68 shots from the field overall, 8-of-24 on shots inside of the three-point arc, and was nearly perfect from the charity stripe, making 11-of-12 shots from the free throw line. IPFW dished out a season-high-tying 21 assists, against just 19 turnovers, the fifth time this season the 'Dons have had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio for a game, and just the second time in a loss.

Oral Roberts was led by Jaci Bigham who scored 33 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 5-of-9 from long range. Jordan Pyle scored 16, while the Conference's leading scorer Kevi Luper put in 14 while adding seven rebounds and a game-high five steals, all in the first half.

The Mastodons return to action on December 31, as the team plays in a New Years Eve contest against the Ladies of Centenary with tip-off slated for 6:00 PM EST at the Gold Dome in Shreveport, Louisiana.

~Dons~