ORU Women Crushed By Missouri

Oral Roberts University gave a spirited effort on Wednesday night as they fell to a hot-shooting Missouri team, 86-64, at Mizzou Arena. Dorottya Balla led the Golden Eagles (1-6) with a career-high 15 points.

ORU hung tough with the Tigers throughout the game, but in the end, Missouri's three-point shooting was just too much to handle. The home team was 17-for-38 (44.7%) from long distance.

Still, ORU showed tremendous progress in testing Missouri for a full 40 minutes. Balla's 15 points came on 6-for-10 shooting, while Sarah Shelton scored 11 points and pulled down 6 rebounds.

Morgan Eye, Morgan Stock and Maddie Stock each hit five three-pointers for Missouri (8-1). Eye scored a game-high 17 points, while both Stock twins scored 15.

Bri Kulas added 13 points for the Tigers, while Lianna Doty dished eight assists.

As a team, Missouri was 31-for-66 (47.0%) from the field, while ORU was 21-for-54 (38.9%).

ORU fell behind by 11 points early before going on an 11-0 run, their largest in six games. Balla scored seven points during the run, which tied the game at 18-all at the 9:59 mark of the first half.

But Missouri rattled off 14 straight to reestablish a double-digit lead. A Maddie Stock three-ball made it 32-18 at the 5:25 mark, and the Tigers carried a 43-28 lead into the break.

The Golden Eagles fell behind by 19 points early in the 2nd half before closing to 61-47 on a Christian Key three-ball with 12:51 left in the game. The long-range shot was one of four hit by ORU on the evening.

Missouri recovered however, scoring the next nine points of the game on three straight Morgan Stock three-pointers. The home team's largest lead was 27 points, and they won the game by 22.

Still, positive performances were easy to find for Misti Cussen's team. Bernadett Balla made her season debut after missing six contests with a foot injury, and she provided a great effort with seven points and five rebounds. Key added nine points while matching a career-high with six boards, and Alexus Wilson scored eight points.

Key also pilfered three steals on the defensive end, while Dorottya Balla and Tysia Manuel had two each.

Balla has now scored 37 points in her last three games after scoring just four in the team's first four contests.

ORU takes 12 days off before facing Northwestern on Monday, December 16. Tipoff in Evanston, Ill., is scheduled for 11 am CT.