Kelsi Musick became the third head coach on the weekend to get their first Summit League Tournament win. The No. 5 Golden Eagles defeated the No. 4 Coyotes 92-69 to advance to Monday’s semifinal. This win also broke USDs 19-game winning streak over ORU, dating back to 2016.
The first two minutes and thirty seconds were fast-paced, causing five combined turnovers between the teams. After the first few minutes, the scoring picked up on both ends. ORU led at the quarter break, 22-15. The Golden Eagles drained four three-pointers in the first quarter.
The second quarter brought more of ORU’s trademark high-octane offense, as the Golden Eagles went on a 17-13 run to add to their lead. Ariel Walker contributed seven of those points.
Carley Duffney led USD in the first half with nine points and three rebounds, while Macy Guebert and Grace Larkins tallied six points apiece. Larkins also pulled down six boards for the Coyotes, who went to the locker room down 28-39.
USD came out of the break with a vengeance, as it went on an 8-0 run in the first two and a half minutes of the third quarter. It hit back-to-back transition buckets on that run. ORU then picked up its pace and finished the third frame up by nine, 62-53. Larkins tallied eight in the third for the Coyotes. Ruthie Udoumoh netted 10 for ORU.
The fourth quarter started off hot once again for both teams, but a couple of second-chance opportunities and balls knocked out of bounds gave ORU an opportunity to extend its lead. With 6:21 left in the game, ORU led 76-57. They continued to run away with the game, up 89-66 with two minutes left.
For the Golden Eagles, Hannah Cooper stuffed the stat sheet with 24 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and five steals. Ruthie Udoumoh tallied 19 points, five boards, and four assists, and Tirzah Moore added 13 points, eight rebounds, four blocks and four steals. Walker, Delaney Nix, Lauren Ramey and Sara Rodrigues each posted nine points for ORU.
ORU Head Coach Kelsi Musick stated that she didn’t want to play possession basketball, and that the team aimed to reach 80 possessions this game. They had 79. Hannah Cooper was pleased with that.
“We haven’t pressed the full 40 minutes all season and we have the legs to do that. Not a lot of teams have the legs to do that.”
Head Coach Kelsi Musick was also elated.
“I’m extremely proud of my team for sticking to the game plan.”
“We get to go against Goliath. We’re excited for any opportunity we get to play together. 40 more minutes.”
Oral Roberts will face South Dakota State on Monday at 12:30 p.m.
For USD, Grace Larkins said she was happy with the shot selections. “I felt like we took good shots, just a lot of them didn’t fall.” Macy Guebert also commented on the discussion at halftime. “We talked at halftime about maybe getting more looks at the rim, and I think we were able to do that in the second half.
Head Coach Kayla Karius talked about improvements she wanted to emphasize. “We’re going to have to find ways to get tougher and keep the ball in front of us, and it didn’t feel like we did that very well today.”
Grace Larkins and Carley Duffney each netted 19 points for the Coyotes. They added nine and six rebounds, respectively. Morgan Hansen added 10 points to the board.
South Dakota finishes the season 14-16 overall, and 10-8 in the conference.