ORU Drops Heartbreaker To Louisiana In WBI Semifinals

The ORU women's basketball team came out hot in the first half of the WBI semifinals against Louisiana, but allowed the Ragin' Cajuns to snag a one-point comeback win in the final stretch. This ended ORU's season at 18-16. 

Three minutes into the first, the game was tied up 6-all. A couple of threes from Atoe' Jackson helped ORU take a small lead.

The Golden Eagles remained in control, expanding their lead 16-9 with 12 minutes before the half. Oral Roberts proceeded to lock down on defense, keeping the Ragin' Cajuns scoreless for nearly five minutes. 

At this point, the Golden Eagles had a 24-13 advantage with 7:42 before the half.

ORU kept transition tight, entering intermission with a 35-23 advantage. Jackson and Faith Ihim led the Golden Eagles in scoring with nine points apiece, while Keke Veal led Louisiana with seven. ORU outshot the Ragin' Cajuns from the field 56 percent to 37 percent, and led the rebounding battle 22-8.

The Golden Eagles didn't cool down opening two, escalating it's lead 40-29 six minutes into the final.

Oral Roberts clearly knew what this game meant, as the team continued to maintain its momentum and dictate the pace.

Louisiana attempted to slow ORU down with a Ragin' Cajun rally, cutting the Golden Eagles advantage to single digits (42-35). Oral Roberts wasn't having that, quickly boosting its head back to double figures.

After some cold shooting from ORU, Louisiana took its first lead of the second half (50-49). The Ragin' Cajuns then speedily increased that new lead by five more. At this time, ORU hadn't made a bucket since the 9:22 mark, (nearly five minutes without a score).

The Golden Eagles didn't give up, picking up their offense to make it a one-point ball game (57-56).

Vicky McIntyre's efforts under the basket helped her team keep a potential lead in sight, as she was three rebounds away from breaking Courtney Paris' all-time rebounding record.

With 50 seconds before the buzzer, Oral Roberts stole a two-point lead (64-62). Things were looking up again. That was until Simone Fields got an and-1 with 18 seconds left, giving Louisiana a one-point lead.

By the end, the Ragin' Cajuns finished its comeback with a 65-64 win.