ORU’s Second Half Surge Buries Bison 84-74

Kevi Luper led all scorers with 29 points on 12-20 shooting, while grabbing six rebounds and snagging three steals.

A red-hot Bison squad came roaring out of the gates in the opening 20 minutes, draining one three after another to pull ahead by as many as 19 (37-18) at the eight minute mark, and eventually taking a 48-37 lead into the break.

By the time the buzzer had sounded on the opening period, NDSU had drained 63 percent from the field, including a blazing 60 percent (9-15) from the land of plenty.

A gritty ORU team had other plans in the second stanza however, battling the hosts bucket-for-bucket in the early going, before managing an 11-1 scoring spree capped by an Amber Carverjumper with 8:29 showing that lifted the Golden Eagles to their first lead of the game. 

With the momentum firmly in their favor, ORU turned the heat up defensively, forcing seven Bison turnovers over the next six minutes and converting the miscues into some easy fastbreak buckets down the stretch.

The surging Golden Eagles put the contest on ice with 2:20 to go, when Luper downed a fastbreak layup, drew the foul and sank the freebee to give ORU a nine point lead and their sixth Summit win of the year.

Jordan Pyle was her usual consistent self for ORU, logging 16 points, inhaling 12 boards and posting her 15th career double-double.

Amber Carver notched her best game yet for the Golden Eagles with a career-best 12 points on 6-9 shooting. 

Dominique Allen controlled the paint with seven points and eight tough rebounds, with Jaci Bighamadding 10 points and dealing out eight assists in the ORU victory.

The victory marks the first time ORU has swept the South Dakota State – North Dakota State road series, and also marks ORU’s best conference start in school history.

With the win, the Golden Eagles move to 10-7 on the year and 6-0 in Summit action. North Dakota State drops their first home loss of the year, and falls to 7-8 and 3-2 in conference play.