THE BASICS

Score: Oral Roberts 45 – Denver 47

Records: Oral Roberts (11-10) (3-5); Denver (5-16) (2-6)

Location: Mabee Center – Tulsa, Okla.

TULSA, Okla. – The ORU women's basketball team came up just short Wednesday evening as the Golden Eagles fell to Denver 47-45 at the Mabee Center.

Faith Ihim won the opening tip for ORU and Kaylan Mayberry drained her first three-point bucket of the game in the opening possession. The Golden Eagles led the Pioneers 12 -7 at the end of the first quarter. ORU shot 23.5 percent in the first and the defense held Denver to 3-15 from the field for a 20 percent shooting overall.

It was a low scoring game in the second quarter. ORU and Denver each scored six points in the second. Rachel Skalnik hit ORU's only three-point bucket in the second.  The Golden Eagles shot 22.2 percent from the field and Denver went 2-13 for 15.4 percent.

Denver came out of the locker room after halftime and scored 22 points in the third quarter. The Pioneers shot 44.4 percent overall and went 8-18 from the field. The Golden Eagles scored 12 points in third and shot 42.9 percent from the field. Denver ended the quarter on a 7-0 run.

Denver extended its run to 9-0 to open the fourth quarter. The Golden Eagles stormed back to tie the game and take a two point lead with 1:40 remaining in the game. Samantha Romanowski hit a two-point bucket to put Denver up by two with 32 seconds left. Denver extended the lead down the stretch to five points and Faith Ihim hit a three-point basket to make it 47-45 in Denver's favor at the buzzer. ORU shot 34.6 percent overall in the game and held Denver to a 29.3 shooting percentage.

TURNING POINT

In the fourth quarter, ORU came back to overcome an eight point deficit and take a two-point lead with 1:40 remaining in the game.

THE LEADERS

Oral Roberts: Faith Ihim led the team with 16 points and nine rebounds.

Denver: Jacqlyn Poss led Denver with 16 points in the game. Jesse Spittel gathered 12 rebounds in tonight's game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

- ORU shot 34.6 percent overall in tonight's game. 

- ORU was out-rebounded by Denver 43-34.

- The Golden Eagles had a 26.7 percent three-point average.

- ORU turned the ball over 19 times, but forced the Pioneers to turn the ball over 17 times.

- ORU shot 55.6 percent from the free-throw line.

- Kaylan Mayberry had seven points on the night along with two rebounds, two steals and two assists.

- Faith Ihim scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds in tonight's game. Ihim created three steals as well and dished out two assists and made one block.

- Jordan Gilbert had four points and two rebounds in the game.

- Hillary Hurst scored one point in tonight's game with two rebounds and one assist.

- Rachel Skalnik scored seven points and grabbed two rebounds in tonight's game along with two assists.

- Montserrat Brotons totaled four points, four rebounds and two assists.

- Ashley Beatty scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds on the night. She also had one assist and made four steals.

- ORU had 22 points in the paint and 17 bench points in tonight's game.

- Golden Eagles capitalized with 13 points off of turnovers.

UP NEXT

The Golden Eagles will head north to face North Dakota State on Saturday, January 28 at 2 p.m. inside the Scheels Center in Fargo, N.D.

For the latest information on ORU women's basketball, follow @ORUWBB on Twitter or go to www.ORUAthletics.com.  Fans can also receive updates on the team by downloading the Golden Eagles Front Row App at ORUAthletics.com/frontrow or in the App Store. 

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