Box Score HAMMOND – Oral Roberts senior guard Christian Key hit a game-winning three-point field goal at the buzzer to give the Golden Eagles an 81-78 win over Southeastern Louisiana in Southland Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Center.
Key's game-winner negated a tremendous rally by Southeastern (6-16, 5-5 Southland), which trailed by as many as 23 points in the first half, before taking a 78-74 lead with just over a minute remaining. Key's shot capped a 7-0 game-closing run for Oral Roberts (7-14, 6-5 Southland).
All five Southeastern starters scored in double figures in Saturday's loss. Junior guard
Elizabeth Styles led the Lady Lions with 19 points, while sophomore forward
Nanna Pool posted her ninth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Joining Styles and Pool in double figures were junior guard
Symone Miller (15 points), senior forward
Aja Gibson (14 points) and sophomore guard
Erica Hernandez (11 points).
Southeastern was able to mount the rally thanks to its season-best 7-for-10 shooting from behind the arc. In addition, Southeastern topped 30 free throw attempts for the fourth straight game, connecting on 21-of-33 attempts, while ORU was one 2-for-2 from the charity stripe.
Gibson continued her climb up the school's career scoring list. Her output on Saturday gives her 1,148 points as a Lady Lions, moving her past Lisa Washington for ninth place in school history.
ORU made up for the free throw discrepancy by hitting 11 three-point field goals. Freshman guard Kaylan Mayberry led the Golden Eagles with 21 points, while Key followed with 17 points and a game-high eight assists. Junior guard Aloe' Jackson and freshman guard Noora Jaervikangas added 11 points apiece, while senior center Sarah Shelton chipped in with 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
Oral Roberts dominated the majority of the first half, building a 23-point lead. With 5:22 left in the opening period, freshman guard Alexus Wilson hit a jumper to give the Golden Eagles a 44-23 advantage. However, that would be the last point of the half for ORU as Southeastern closed the half with an 11-0 run to go into the break with a manageable 44-34 deficit.
ORU would grow its lead to 15 in the second half on a three by Jaervikangas with 13:04 left. Over the next six and a half minutes, Southeastern outscored the Golden Eagles, 22-8, cutting the lead to 64-63 with 6:37 remaining on a layup by Gibson.
Oral Roberts maintained its advantage for the next several minutes, until Miller knocked down two free throws to give the Lady Lions a 72-70 lead with 3:01 remaining. The lead would grow to four on a Gibson score with just over a minute left.
On the next possession, Key cut the lead in half with less than a minute left on a layup. After Styles missed on Southeastern's next trip, Key hit a jumper to tie the score with 23 seconds left.
Styles turned the ball over on the Lady Lions' next possession to give ORU the ball back with 10 seconds left. Styles was called for a foul with five seconds remaining to set up the final play, which saw Key knock down the game-winner from well behind the three-point arc.
Following the road trip, Southeastern will return home to host McNeese State on Thursday at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the Internet at LionSports.net, where LionVision subscribers can access a live video stream. The game will be televised on the Southeastern Channel (Charter Channel 18) on tape delay.
Pool will be Thursday's Spotlight Player of the Game and the first 100 fans will receive a trading card featuring the Magnolia, Miss. native courtesy of the Southeastern PRIDE.
