Luper?s 29 Keeps ORU Perfect in Summit League

Courtesy: ORU Media Relations

Tulsa— Kevi Luper was back to her high-scoring self Friday night, lighting up the scoreboard to the tune of 29 points, while chipping in seven rebounds and five steals to lead the Oral Roberts women’s basketball team to a 96-74 Summit League victory over Oakland University on New Year’s Eve in the Mabee Center.

ORU’s Jordan Pyle fell one rebound short of her 15th career double-double, logging 14 points and nine rebounds, to go with a career-best three blocked shots.

The opening 20 minutes featured a see-saw battle that included nine lead changes and five ties, before ORU managed to erupt on a 13-2 scoring spree to close the half with a 48-34 lead. 

It was all ORU all the time in the second stanza, as the hosts ran the margin up to 24, capped by a Jaci Bigham long ball at the 10:40 mark. 

Oakland managed to cut the deficit to 15 points with 6:21 to go, but had no answer for the Kevi Luper show, as the sophomore guard took over the game with 13 points on a perfect 6-6 shooting display to keep the Golden Grizzlies at bay and lift ORU to its second-straight win.

Bigham finished with 13 points, seven assists and six steals for the Golden Eagles, while Savanna Buck tacked on 11 points on 3-6 shooting.

Bethany Watterworth paced Oakland with 19 points, four boards and a game-best eight assists in the setback.

As a team, ORU collected 21 steals and out-rebounded Oakland 42-36.

With the victory ORU moves to an even 7-7 overall and perfect 4-0 in conference play. Oakland drops to 9-6 and 3-1 in the Summit League.