ORU Athletics
DENVER, Colo. – With yet another flair for the dramatic, the Oral Roberts women’s basketball team picked up a Rocky Mountain road win on Monday night, defeating Denver 62-53. The Golden Eagles trailed by as many as nine points in the contest before securing their second consecutive come from behind victory.
A sluggish start set the Golden Eagles in a 15-8 deficit at the end of the first quarter. ORU could not catch a break from the floor, shooting just 20% in the quarter. A half court heave at the buzzer was waived off as the Pioneers led by seven at the end of the frame.
ORU chipped away in the second quarter, outscoring Denver 14-10. A steal and score in transition followed by a pull-up jumper led a quick four point outburst from Ariel Walker and helped cut the deficit. Delaney Nix pulled a deep three from the logo to give ORU their first lead of the evening. A late 5-0 run from the Pioneers took back the lead and gave Denver a 25-22 lead at the break.
After halftime, the two teams played a tightly contested third quarter – Denver edging out ORU 19-17 in the frame. Walker gave the Golden Eagles their first lead of the half when she buried a triple at the 7:30 mark. The squad built their lead up to four before Denver began to chip away at the deficit. Just as was the case before halftime, Denver finished the quarter on a 5-0 run and went into the fourth quarter with a 44-39 lead.
The fourth quarter was all Golden Eagles as ORU outscored the Pioneers 23-9 in the final frame to pull away. The Golden Eagles trailed by as many as six with 8:41 left to play in the fourth quarter. Tirzah Moore notched her second double-double of the season in the fourth quarter, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Keni Jo Lippe became just the fifth active player in NCAA Division I to have made 500 career free throws with 26 seconds left, sinking her 500th and 501st career free throws. Walker gave ORU the lead with 1:17 to play sinking a pair of free throws. In the final 77 seconds, Walker, Lippe, and Hannah Cooper combined to go 8-9 at the charity stripe and put the game away for the Golden Eagle victory.
Tirzah Moore led the way for ORU with her second career double-double. Moore finished with 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Hannah Cooper led all ORU scorers with 14 points.
Two Pioneers finished in double-digit scoring with Tess Santos leading the way with 14 points. Two players also pulled down double-digit rebounds for the Pioneers with Uju Ezeudu led the team with 12 boards.
Keni Jo Lippe became the fifth active player in NCAA Division I basketball to have 500 or more made free throws in her career. Lippe went 9-10 at the charity stripe and now sits at 501 made free throws.
Tirzah Moore’s second double-double became the first for any Golden Eagle in Summit League play.
Hannah Cooper picked up four steals in the win, just one shy of ORU’s single-game high this season.
ORU made 27 free throws on Monday evening – the highest single-game total in Summit League play this season.
Tirzah Moore blocked four shots in the contest – A new career-high and a single-game high for ORU this season.
The Golden Eagles will return to the Mabee Center this weekend to take on Kansas City on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off against the Roos is slated for 2 PM and all of the action can be found on the ORU Sports Network.