Oral Roberts Women Fall To Defending Champs

Oral Roberts was no match for the defending national champions Wednesday night, falling to No. 3 Baylor, 94-56, in front of 7,767 fans at the Ferrell Center. With the loss, ORU falls to 3-4 on the season.

Senior Kevi Luper led the Golden Eagles with 19 points, while freshman Taylor Cooper added 16. Sarah Shelton finished with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Baylor (8-1) flexed their muscles on Wednesday night, shooting 56.3% from the floor and outrebounding the Golden Eagles, 44-29.

Odyssey Sims led the Bears with 27 points, while reigning national player of the year Brittney Griner tallied 22 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bears sprinted out to a sizable lead, going up 31-9 at the 12:12 mark on a steal and score by Sims. But the Golden Eagles spent the rest of the half whittling the lead down. A late three-pointer by Cooper capped a 12-5 ORU run and cut the gap to 48-34.

Baylor led at the half, 51-34. Cooper led the Golden Eagles with 13 points at the break.

ORU came out of the locker room hot, scoring the first four points of the half. A layup by Shelton off of a feed from Luper cut Baylor's advantage to 51-38 with 18:54 to play.

But the Bears answered with a 9-2 run, putting the game out of reach. Two Jordan Madden free throws at the 16:39 mark restored the 20-point lead, at 60-40.

Later Sims put the finishing touches on a 12-0 Baylor run, scoring in transition to boost the lead to 78-47 with 11:18 to play.

Senior Jaci Bigham led the Golden Eagles with six assists, while Bernadett Balla added six rebounds off the bench.

Cooper was 4-for-7 from three-point range, though the rest of the ORU team combined for just one long-range shot.

With the win, Baylor is now 6-2 all-time against ORU. The Bears have won 44 straight home games.

The Golden Eagles continue their road trip on Friday, Dec. 14 in Ruston, La., when they face three-time national champion Louisiana Tech. Tipoff at the Thomas Assembly Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.