The Basics
Score: No. 5 Oral Roberts 92, No. 4 South Dakota 63
Records: Oral Roberts (12-18, 8-10 SL), South Dakota (14-16; 10-8 SL)
Location: Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 5 seed Oral Roberts closed out No. 4 South Dakota with a big fourth quarter as the Golden Eagles defeated the Coyotes 92-69 in Sunday's opening quarterfinal at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
The Coyotes had beaten the Golden Eagles by double digits in both of their regular season meetings, but ORU certainly did not let that affect them in this one.
ORU led 22-15 after the first quarter, using an 8-0 run midway through to create a little separation. Hannah Cooper scored nine of her game-high 24 points in the opening 10 minutes and her squad was able to push its lead to 11 by halftime. Ruthie Udoumoh provide the scoring spark for ORU in the second half with 19 points, but the Coyotes had a rally left in the tank before the Golden Eagles finally pulled away.
After shooting just 33 percent from the field in the first half, the Coyotes regrouped at the break and blistered the nets in the opening half of the third quarter. USD made six straight field goals during one stretch and pulled within a point at 48-47 on a 3-pointer by Grace Larkins at the 5:00 mark.
The Golden Eagles never relinquished the lead though and pushed their advantage back to nine by the end of the stanza thanks to Uduoumoh, who had 10 points in the quarter, hit a couple of clutch 3-pointers to stem the tide.
ORU kept the momentum into the fourth quarter and had a 20-point lead by the 5:35 mark at 80-60. The Golden Eagles would grow that to 26 as they defeated the Coyotes for the first time in five tries at the postseason tournament.
Cooper would add seven assists, six rebounds and five steals as the Golden Eagles turned 21 Coyotes' turnovers into 28 points. Tirzah Moore joined Cooper and Uduomuh in double figures with 13 and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Larkins and Carley Duffney both had 19 points to lead the Coyotes. Larkins also had a game-high nine rebounds.
The Golden Eagles move on to play South Dakota State in Monday's first semifinal at 12:30 p.m. CT.
Turning Point
South Dakota trimmed an 11-point halftime deficit down to a point in the opening five minutes of the third quarter, but ORU withstood that flurry to move on.
Inside the Box Score
- Oral Roberts forced the Coyotes into 21 turnovers and turned those into 28 points.
- Oral Roberts' Hannah Cooper scored a game-high 24 points to post her 15th 20-plus point game of the season.
- South Dakota went 10-for-17 (59 percent) from the field in the third quarter but was just 16-for-41 (39 percent) outside of those 10 minutes.
News & Notes
- The Coyotes lost their first game at the tournament for just the second time in 11 appearances. Their other quarterfinal loss came in 2017 when USD was also the No. 4 seed (Omaha; 64-58).
- This is Oral Roberts' first win in five tries against South Dakota at the Summit League Tournament.
- The Golden Eagles earned a rematch of a semifinal tilt from last year's tournament that top-seeded South Dakota State won 72-53.
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