THE BASICS
Score: Oral Roberts 86 – North Dakota State 103
Records: ORU (11-16, 8-8); North Dakota State (16-10, 10-6)
Location: Scheels Center – Fargo, N.D.

FARGO, N.D. – The Oral Roberts women's basketball team fell on the road to North Dakota State, 103-86, Saturday afternoon inside the Scheels Center in Fargo, North Dakota.

Ariel Walker paced the Golden Eagles with a career-high tying 24 points, while Delaney Nix followed with 16. Ruthie Udoumoh (15) and Hannah Cooper (12) rounded out the double-figure scorers for ORU on the afternoon.

After NDSU opened the scoring with a pair of free throws, Walker sparked a 6-0 spurt for the Golden Eagles as they jumped in front at the 8:15 mark. The Bison fired back with an 8-2 stretch to regain the lead, 10-8, with 6:26 left in the quarter. Trailing 18-14, ORU used a 6-0 spurt to take a 20-18 advantage with 1:29 remaining in the first. Seven of the final eight points went the way of NDSU as they took a 25-21 lead into the second.

After the Golden Eagles cut the deficit to four, 35-31, on a Walker layup, the Bison reeled off eight straight points to open their largest lead of the half, 43-31, at the 3:44 mark. Despite outscoring the Bison, 10-9, over the final 3:44, ORU headed to the break trailing 52-41. In the quarter, eight different Golden Eagles registered a basket.

In the third, NDSU outscored the Golden Eagles 21-20 to take a 73-61 lead into the fourth. Walker led all players with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting in the period.

A 6-0 run to start the fourth saw the Bison's lead bloom to 18, 79-61, at the 8:54 mark. ORU responded with a 14-4 run to cut the deficit to eight, 83-75, with 6:41 left in the contest. Walker jumpstarted the run with a three-pointer and Nix capped it off with her fourth triple of the day. NDSU answered with a 13-1 stretch to take their largest lead of the contest, 96-76, as 3:39 remained in the game. The Golden Eagles failed to rally as they fell 103-86.

THE LEADERS
Oral Roberts: Walker netted a team-best 24 points to match her career-high. On the glass, Tirzah Moore topped the Golden Eagles with 10 rebounds.

North Dakota State: Heaven Hamling totaled a game-best 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting to go along with six assists and five rebounds.
                                                                                                                                                 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- From the field, ORU shot 41.9 percent.
- The Golden Eagles knocked down 11 threes on 45.8 percent shooting.
- On the boards, ORU was outrebounded 42-31.
- Cooper dished out six of the team's 14 assists.
- The Golden Eagles logged 15 steals in the contest.
- Cooper, Moore and Nix each totaled three steals to lead ORU.

GAME NOTES
- Saturday's contest marked the 29th meeting all-time between ORU and NDSU.
- Despite the loss, the Golden Eagles still hold a 20-9 edge in the series.
- Cooper reached double-figures for the 22nd straight game.
- Walker surpassed 20-plus points for the fifth time this season. 

Up Next
The Golden Eagles return home to the Mabee Center Thursday, February 23 at 7 p.m. to face South Dakota.

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 new ORU Athletics app in the Google Play or App stores.

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