Women's Basketball 3/2/2009 12:00:00 AM

Golden Eagles Fall Short Against No. 17 South Dakota State, 71-64

TULSA, Okla. – Despite another double-double performance from junior forward Janae Voelker (Newton, Kan.) the Oral Roberts women's basketball lost a close one to No. 17 South Dakota State, 64-71, Monday evening in the Mabee Center.

ORU falls to 13-16 on the year and 6-12 in Summit League play and SDSU improves to 28-2 overall and 17-1 in conference action. The Jack Rabbits swept the Golden Eagles this season and now hold a 3-1 all-time advantage.

Senior guard Mariana Camargo (Blumenau, Brazil) led ORU with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists. Camargo now ranks 10th all-time in ORU history in career points, as she has now scored 1,189. Freshman forward Jordan Pyle (Mustang, Okla.) posted 12 points and six boards on the night, while Voelker tallied her 12th double-double this season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Voelker now has 22 career double-doubles.

The Golden Eagles kept it close all through the first half, as there were seven lead changes and 11 ties. Both teams led by as much as four at one point, while the Jack Rabbits took a 34-31 lead heading into the break.

SDSU took its largest lead thus far into the game at 17:23 in the second, 38-32, but ORU fought back to within one-point after two points from Pyle and a three-pointer from junior guard Amy Pryor (Norman, Okla.). A layup from senior guard Demesha Heard (Oklahoma City, Okla.), a layup from Pyle and a layup from senior center Monah Pegorari (Sao Paulo, Brazil) gave the Golden Eagles their first lead in the second quarter, 45-44, at the 13-minute mark. The Jack Rabbits then took an 8-2 run in the next two minutes to go up 52-47, but ORU responded and took advantage of a six-minute SDSU scoring drought to tie up the game for the eighth time at 52-all with 8:12 remaining.

Three minutes later, Jill Young put the Jack Rabbits back up with a three-pointer, 55-52, as part of an SDSU 7-0 run. South Dakota State then took its largest lead of eight points at 1:41, 62-54, and then again at 1:14, 64-56, while the Golden Eagles fought back to within three, 64-67, with 34 seconds to play. Four straight free throws from SDSU iced the game and gave the Jack Rabbits the Summit League title.

ORU shot 40.0 percent (22-55) from the field, including 25.0 percent (3-12) from three-point range and 54.8 percent (17-31) from the free throw line.

The Golden Eagles out-rebounded the Jack Rabbits 41-33, but SDSU's bench added 10 more points than ORU's 36-26 and the Jack Rabbits made 10 more three-pointers than the Golden Eagles (13-3).

SDSU shot 38.0 percent (19-50) from the field, including 41.9 percent (13-31) from behind the arc and 71.4 percent from the charity stripe (20-28).

The Golden Eagles will take the eighth seed heading into The Summit League Tournament and will face the No. 1 seed South Dakota State on Saturday, March 7 at noon (CT) in Sioux, Falls, S.D.

-ORU-

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Players Mentioned

#1 Mariana Camargo: G; 5' 11"; Senior; Colegio Sagrada Familia

#43 Monah Pegorari: F/C; 6' 3"; Senior; Joao XXIII

#20 Jordan Pyle: F; 6' 1"; Redshirt; Mustang HS

#11 Janae Voelker: G/F; 5' 10"; Junior; Newton HS

Players Mentioned

#1 Mariana Camargo
: 5' 11"; Senior; Colegio Sagrada Familia
: G

#43 Monah Pegorari
: 6' 3"; Senior; Joao XXIII
: F/C

#20 Jordan Pyle
: 6' 1"; Redshirt; Mustang HS
: F

#11 Janae Voelker
: 5' 10"; Junior; Newton HS
: G/F