CEDAR CITY, Utah - Jan. 26 - Southern Utah women's basketball secured a
52-49 home victory over the visiting Oral Roberts Golden Eagles on Saturday night,
snapping a four-game losing skid. The win improves the Thunderbirds to
4-15 on the year and 2-6 in conference play. ORU drops to 10-9 and 4-4
in The Summit League.
"This win was all about 10 people going strong for a full 40-minutes," head coach Steve Hodson said of the team philosophy. "It really doesn't matter if you end up playing in the game, but everybody contributes during the week and it takes all ten to be successful."
Southern Utah started off the game slowly as Oral Roberts built a quick advantage and held it through the opening minutes. The Golden Eagles capped their lead at 11 with 5:25 remaining in the first half. The Thunderbirds countered with a 9-0 over the final five minutes to trim the lead to 24-22 going into the intermission. A key component in the run was freshman Jamie Sagers as the Orem high school product hit two 3-point field goals, complimented by buckets from Erin Heuett and Hailee Truman.
"Those two shots from Jamie were critical for us," Hodson said of the run. "We were able to get closer and only were only down by two at the half. We knew coming out of the break that the first five minutes of the second half would be crucial and we did a good job of stepping up."
Freshman Caitlyn Sears scored seven points for the Thunderbirds in the first two minutes of the half as Southern Utah mounted a strong charge following the break. Sears' baskets tied the game at 29-29 with 17:58 showing on the clock. The Lady T-Birds then took their first lead of the game two minutes later as Aubrey Mackintosh nailed a bucket to put the home team up 31-29.
Southern Utah continued to build its lead, growing to as much as seven before the Golden Eagles chipped the lead to within striking distance. The lead was only two (40-38) with 4:59 showing on the clock when the Thunderbirds turned in an 8-0 run to secure a margin of ten (48-38) with 1:58 remaining.
Oral Roberts once again fought back, hitting back-to-back 3-point field goals to trim the lead to 48-44 with 1:10 on the clock. However, Southern Utah was able to absorb the run as Sears connected on a perfect four-of-four from the charity stripe down the stretch to secure the 52-49 win.
Sears and fellow freshman Challis Pascucci led all SUU scores with 11 points in the game. Pascucci recorded her second double-double of the season with 12 rebounds and filled the box score out with three blocks. Sagers added three more blocks to the stat sheet to compliment her clutch 3-point shots. Mackintosh finished second on the team with ten points and recorded a career high five steals on the night.
The Golden Eagles were held without a double-digit scorer with Janae Voelker and Leanne Robison collecting a team-high nine points a piece. The duo also led the team in rebounding with 13 and 14, respectively.
Oral Roberts proved to be strong on the glass all night, out rebounding the Thunderbirds 58-40. However, the advantage wasn't able to be capitalized on as Southern Utah out shot the Golden Eagles 37 percent to 27 percent during the contest.
SUU women's hoops will be back in action on Monday night when the Thunderbirds host the Ladies of Centenary College. Southern Utah will look to record its first winning streak of the year when the teams tip-off at 7:00 p.m.
