ORU Offense Makes Them League Favorites

Originally Published: Mar 2, 2010 7:41 PM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Mobile Journalist

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Oral Roberts women’s basketball team (21-8, 15-3) is three wins away from a Summit League championship. The top-seeded Golden Eagles will battle with Southern Utah on Saturday in a first round conference matchup.

The Summit League tournament kicks off this weekend in Sioux Falls, S.D. and ORU has a good shot at winning it all. The Golden Eagles have been unstoppable on offense at times this season, scoring over 86 points per game. They have scored over 100 four times this season.

Oral Roberts torched Southern Utah 94-70 in their regular season finale to earn the top spot in the Summit League tournament. ORU hit a team record 18 three-pointers against the Thunderbirds.

Oral Roberts is led by a powerful one-two punch on offense. Freshmen Kevi Luper and Jaci Bigham have carried ORU to the top of the standings, scoring 42 points per game combined. Of the team’s 29 games, Luper led the team in scoring in 18 of those games while Bigham led the other 11. The guards will be relied upon heavily to produce in the postseason.

The winner of Saturday’s first round game will meet the winner of Sunday’s UMKC (15-14) and North Dakota State (16-12) matchup on Monday. The Summit League championship game will be played Tuesday afternoon at 3.

SUMMIT LEAGUE PAIRINGS
March 6-9 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

SATURDAY
No. 1 Oral Roberts (21-8) vs. No. 8 Southern Utah (7-22), 12 p.m.
No. 2 Oakland (18-12) vs. No. 7 Western Illinois (10-19), 2:30 p.m.

SUNDAY
No. 4 UMKC (15-14) vs. No. 5 North Dakota State (16-12), 12 p.m.
No. 3 South Dakota State (19-10) vs. No. 6 IPFW (13-16), 2:30 p.m.

MONDAY
Oral Roberts-Southern Utah winner vs. UMKC-NDSU winner, 12 p.m.
Oakland-Western Illinois winner vs. SDSU-IPFW winner, 2 p.m.

TUESDAY
Championship Game, 3 p.m. on ESPNU