ORU Women Use Defense to Beat Oakland

Originally Published: Jan 12, 2010 12:29 AM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The Oral Roberts University women’s basketball team forced 29 turnovers and swiped 24 steals en route to a 77-62 victory over Oakland on Monday night.

Kevi Luper led the Golden Eagles (10-7, 4-2) with 24 points and seven steals. Luper went 9-of-21 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Jaci Bigham and Alex Adekunle also reached double digits in the scoring column with 18 and 13 respectively.

The Golden Eagles blew open a tight contest early with a 13-3 run over the final 5:11 of the opening half, capped off by a jumper at the buzzer from Luper.

The Golden Grizzlies (6-10, 3-2) cut the lead to nine points with 11:06 remaining in the game, but Luper drained a quick three to push the advantage back to double digits.

The Golden Eagles now have three consecutive conference road games, beginning at Western Illinois on Saturday.