ORU womens basketball

Wednesday, March 7th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) _ Christina Kelley scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half to lead Oral Roberts to a 61-46 victory over Oakland, Mich., in the Mid-Continent Conference tournament championship Tuesday night.

The second-seeded Golden Eagles (20-10) earned their second trip to the NCAA tournament with their third victory of the season over Oakland (20-10).

Oakland, the regular-season conference champions, made a run at Oral Roberts late in the game after trailing by as many as 16 points in the second half.

Beth Zeone's 3-pointer and two baskets by Sarah Judd pulled the Golden Grizzlies within 47-40 with 4:20 to play.

Oakland was still within seven with 2:33 to play, but tournament MVP Christa Ragan started a 10-0 run for Oral Roberts that sealed the win.

Dana Whittaker had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Shayne McKenzie added 10 points for Oral Roberts.

Zeone had 17 points, Katie Wolfe 13 and Judd 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Oakland made 12-of-44 3-pointers in their first two games of the tournament, but made just 1 of 20 in the championship game.