Golden Eagles Rally Past South Dakota State 85-78

Jordan Pyle paved the way for ORU with 24 points on 9-12 shooting, while tacking on six rebounds and a block in the Golden Eagle victory.

ORU failed to get anything going in the opening ten minutes of the contest, sputtering through eight turnovers and shooting a forgettable 2-9 from the field while watching South Dakota State scamper ahead to a 20-6 lead with 10:57 showing.

The Golden Eagles finally managed to stop the bleeding by the nine minute mark, when a Luper jumper followed by a steal and Jaci Bigham layup brought ORU back to within single digits at 18-27.

Slowly pecking away at the visitors lead, ORU put together an 11-0 run late in the first half and eventually took their first lead of the game on a Pyle jumper with 3:29 on the ticker.

It was a see-saw battle from that point on, as the Jackrabbits seemed to have an answer for every ORU scoring spree, ultimately knotting things up at intermission (44-44) on a deep Kristin Rotert trey with time winding down.

Storming out of their halftime talk, a re-energized Golden Eagle squad quickly built a 10 point cushion on a Bigham three with 14 minutes to go.

Just when it looked like ORU would run away with it, Katie Lingle got busy in the paint for South Dakota State. The sophomore center sank two layups, dropped a jumper, and blocked a shot on four of the next five possessions, sparking a 19-9 Jackrabbit run that had things all tied up at 73 with 5:52 on the ticker.

That would be as close as the visitors would get however, as ORU answered right back with a 6-0 run over the next two minutes that all but put the game on ice with time winding down. 

Luper led all scorers with 26 points, while grabbing three steals and connecting on all four of her free throw attempts. The sophomore guard also moved into 10th place at ORU with 1,327 career points scored.

Bigham logged 17 points on 6-8 shooting to go with seven assists and two steals. 

Jill Young and Kristin Rotert each added 24 for South Dakota State, while Lingle finished with 16. 

The Jackrabbits out-muscled ORU 35-28 on the glass – including a 13-5 advantage on the offensive boards.

The nets were blazing once again for ORU, as the Golden Eagles connected on 57 percent from the field, including a thrifty 62 percent from beyond the arc.

With the win, ORU moves to 17-7 overall and 13-0 in conference play. The win also marks the 12th in a row for the Golden Eagles, and puts them in fourth place all-time in the program record books. 

South Dakota State falls to 11-13 and 7-6 in the Summit League.