ORU, Luper Collect Preseason Accolades

10/12/2011 12:00:00 AM

TULSA, Okla. - (www.orugoldeneagles.com) The season is still nearly four weeks away, but awards are already pouring in for the Oral Roberts University women's basketball team. As a squad, the Golden Eagles are ranked 24^th by the annual Athlon Sports College Basketball Preview magazine, and junior guard Kevi Luper was named a third team Preseason All-American by College Sports Madness.

ORU is coming off of a 23-11 season and a Summit League Regular Season Championship in 2010-11. The Golden Eagles earned a Women's National Invitational Tournament bid last year and advanced all the way to the third round, their most successful WNIT run in program history.

Luper is a two-time Summit League Player of the Year, a two-time Summit League Defensive Player of the Year and a 2010-11 Associated Press All-American selection. She averaged 23.7 points and 3.7 steals per game last season, in the process become the first player in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in both points and steals.

The Adair, Okla., native was recently selected to the United States National Team that will compete in the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. The competition begins on Oct. 21, when Team USA takes on Argentina.

Luper is ORU's first ever Pan Am Games selection.

ORU opens the 2011-12 season on Oct. 27 with an exhibition game against Evangel University. The regular season begins on Nov. 11, when the Golden Eagles host Drury.

College Sports Madness All-American Team: http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/2267

Athlon Sports 2011-12 Women's Top 25
1. Baylor
2. Tennessee
3. Connecticut
4. Louisville
5. Miami (Fla.)
6. Stanford
7. Notre Dame
8. Duke
9. Texas A&M
10. DePaul
11. Georgetown
12. Rutgers
13. Maryland
14. Georgia
15. North Carolina
16. Penn State
17. UCLA
18. LSU
19. Florida State
20. Oklahoma
21. Ohio State
22. St. John's
23. Kentucky
24. Oral Roberts
25. Gonzaga