No. 1 Oral Roberts Falls to No. 4 Oakland

Originally Published: Mar 7, 2011 3:40 PM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota--Oral Roberts quest for the Summit League title ended Monday as the No. 1 ranked Golden Eagles fell to No. 4 Oakland 96-62.

Oral Roberts trailed by nine points early on and by halftime were behind 47-34.

As the second half rolled on, Oakland came out firing again and increased the deficit to 19 points with 18 minutes still left to play.

Kevi Luper led the way for ORU scoring 24 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the three point line while also pulling down seven rebounds.

ORU turned the ball over 16 times and Oakland didn’t think twice about using those turnovers to sustain its momentum and lead 77-42 with six minutes left to play.

In the final three minutes, ORU’s Priscila Cergol and Luper hit back to back threes to cut it to 28, but it was too little too late for the Golden Eagles who fell by a final margin of 34.

Bethany Watterworth led Oakland with 18 points and seven rebounds and the Grizzlies had four other players in double digits.

Cergol and Dominique Allen both finished with 11 points for ORU who now sits at 20-11 on the season.

Oral Roberts still has an automatic bid to the WNIT Tournament and the Golden Eagles will find out its first opponent when the pairings are released March 14.