Western Illinois Knocks Off No. 2 Seed ORU Women

NewsOn6.com

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota – If the Western Illinois Leathernecks didn't have their normal jerseys on, they could have easily passed for a brand new team.

Twice this year, ORU had cruised past WIU for victories, but Saturday's game was a different story.

The seventh-seeded Leathernecks busted out of the gate strong and dominated the entire afternoon, stunning the No. 2 seed Golden Eagles 83-71.

It wasn't so much the upset itself that was so surprising, but the manner in which the Leathernecks controlled the game.

ORU was 2-0 against WIU this year, with a 78-66 win on Jan. 16 and an 84-69 victory on Feb. 11.

But this time, Western Illinois would not be denied, jumping out to a 13-2 lead in the first five minutes and a 28-12 lead after 15 minutes. It proceeded to outscore the Golden Eagles 10-4 in the final five minutes of the first half for a 22-point advantage at the break.

Oral Roberts tried to slowly but surely close the gap, but saw only limited success.

The closest the Golden Eagles were able to cut the score was a 62-55 margin with 5:06 remaining in the game on a pair of free throws from Kevi Luper.

But that would be as close as the score would get as WIU quickly pushed the difference back to double digits and never let it slip closer again.

Luper led the Golden Eagles with 27 points but needed 26 field goal attempts to do it. As a team, ORU shot just 36.5 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 17 times.

Jordan Pyle added 13 points and Georgia Jones added 11 for the Golden Eagles.

ORU will now wait for a potential NIT bid and has the possibility of hosting games in the tournament.