SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - March 6 - Southern Utah looked even with Oral Roberts on paper and far surpassed the Golden Eagles in rebounding, pulling down 53 boards to ORU's 28, but 28 turnovers and missed second chances led to a 97-81 defeat for the Thunderbirds on Saturday afternoon. The loss punctuates the women's basketball 2009-10 slate with a final record of 7-23.
"I'm proud of the team for their effort and for their performance today," head coach JR Payne said. "The effort didn't carry over to the scoreboard, but they did a good job today."
Southern Utah opened the contest with an early 6-2 lead and carried the advantage through the first five minutes of the game. A jumper by Janae Voelker with 14:37 on the clock in the first half gave ORU its first lead of the game (7-6) with the Golden Eagles holding onto the margin through the rest of the game. A 16-4 midway through the game gave Oral Roberts its first double-digit lead (25-13), but Southern Utah runs cut the lead back to single digits on three occasions over the next four minutes.
A 10-0 run by ORU late in the first half gave the Eagles their largest lead of the opening stanza at 18 (40-22) with four minutes to play. The game was set at 15, 48-33 going into the half as 18 first-half turnovers by Southern Utah led to 22 points for ORU during the first 20 minutes.
Southern Utah was down by as much as 30 in the second half, but Thunderbird runs cut the lead to 18 on multiple occasions, but it wasn't until a layup by Tayler Anderson with less that a minute to play that Southern Utah finally broke the 18-point threshold. One of two free throws by Stephanie Sampson in the closing seconds of the game left the final score 97-81.
Caitlyn Sears led Southern Utah with 16 points and filled out the box score with five rebounds and a career-high, tying seven assists. Challis Pascucci folloed with 15 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Sampson was the final player in double figures for SUU with a season-high 11 points and a career-high four steals.
Chanel Thorley also recorded a new career high with 13 rebounds during the afternoon, including team-highs of five offensive rebounds and eight defensive rebounds.
Oral Roberts' starters each tallied double figures led by Jordan Pyle with 26, followed by Kevi Luper (18), Jaci Bigham (11) and Savanna Buck and Voelker with ten.
Southern Utah will now look to the 2010-11 season with every player on the roster anticipated to return. The experienced group will be joined by six new faces when the season begins next fall.
