Stifling Defense Sparks ORU over South Dakota State 77-62

Kevi Luper led the way once again for ORU, posting 28 points, four steals and two rebounds in the victory.

2,346 fans were treated to a tightly contested opening 10 minutes that featured two ties and five lead changes, before the guest Golden Eagles were able to clamp down defensively and blow the contest wide open heading into intermission.

Trailing by one (20-21) with 9:20 on the ticker, a suffocating ORU defense forced eight turnovers over the next ten possessions and sparked an 18-1 run that that gave the Golden Eagles a 16 point cushion (38-22) with two minutes to go in the opening half.

ORU widened the margin to as many as 20 points on a pair of occasions early in the second stanza, and seemed to have an answer every Jackrabbit run down the stretch.

South Dakota State was able to climb back to within 13 points (67-54) by the four minute mark, but the Golden Eagles came roaring out of a Jerry Finkbeiner timeout to score on four of their next five possessions and all but put the game on ice.

Jordan Pyle finished the evening with 11 points, nine boards and tied a career-high with five steals.

Savanna Buck and Georgia Jones each added 10 points, and Amber Carver scored a season-best nine points on 4-5 shooting in the ORU win.

Jennie Sunnarborg led the way for the Jackrabbits with 21 points, six boards and four steals.

ORU was outrebounded 36-40 on the contest and outshot 41 percent to 44 percent.

With the victory ORU moves to 9-7 on the season and an unblemished 5-0 in conference play. South Dakota State falls to 5-10 overall and 1-3 in conference action.