WICHITA, Kan. – Senior guards Alexus Freeman and Tia Sanders finished with 14 points apiece as the Alcorn State University women's basketball program fell to Oral Roberts University 76-52 Friday evening at Charles Koch Arena. It was the first of two games for the Lady Braves this weekend at the Wichita State Shocker Winter Classic.
The Golden Eagles (7-4) jumped out early with 12 unanswered before Sanders got Alcorn on the board with a three ball. The Lady Braves were able to get to within 12-5 and later 18-11, but ORU pushed its lead back to double digits 22-11 as the opening quarter came to a close. Alcorn outscored the visitors on the scoreboard 21-18 in the second 10 minutes of action. The Lady Braves started with an 8-0 run and twice trimmed ORU's lead to two points, but couldn't get any closer the rest of the way. After junior forward Ugochinyere Nwarie scored a jumper to close the gap 34-32 at the 1:59 mark, Oral Roberts posted six straight and took a 40-32 advantage into the locker rooms.
The second half belonged to ORU, which used runs of 6-0, 10-0, and 7-0 to help put the game away. The Golden Eagles continued to shoot over 55 percent while the Lady Braves were held to just nine points in the third quarter and shot 7-34 (20.6 percent) over the final 20 minutes.
Freeman went 6-21 (28.6 percent) from the field and 2-7 (28.6 percent) from long-range. She added three boards, three assists, and four steals to her totals. Sanders made 4-9 (44.5 percent) from the floor, 2-6 (33.3 percent) from deep, and converted 4-6 (66.7 percent) of her freebies. The team's leading scorer added three rebounds with an assist and a steal. Junior guard Cloe Lane was close to double-digit scoring with nine points and set a career high with five steals.
As a team, the Lady Braves shot 19-64 (29.7 percent) from the floor, including 5-21 (23.8 percent) from beyond the arc, and 9-13 (69.2 percent) from the line.
Alcorn scored more points off turnovers (22-12), but ORU got more points in the paint (46-16), won the battle on the glass (51-23), and had more second-chance points (8-0). Both teams were tied in fast-break scoring (8-8) and bench production (20-20).
The Lady Braves conclude the Classic Saturday as they square off with the host Shockers in a 6 p.m. contest. The game marks just the second meeting between the two teams. Alcorn earned an 80-60 win over WSU back on Nov. 30, 1991.
NOTES
- A big focus for the Lady Braves entering the weekend was to limit the number of times opponents get to the line. Before tonight's game, charity buckets accounted for roughly 30 percent of opponent's points. ORU shot 6-11 (54.5 percent) at the line, marking season lows for free-throws made and free-throw percentage.
- Alcorn committed just 11 turnovers, a season low.
- Redshirt-sophomore guard Brianna Tolliver and Nwarie appeared in their first game this season. Tolliver made 1-2 shots in seven minutes of action, while Nwarie logged 18 minutes and finished with six points, two rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
- Wichita State opened its Classic with a close 66-63 win over Chicago State in the evening game Friday.
- Oral Roberts's largest lead was by 24 as the game wrapped up. It was just shy of the season mark by an opponent. Central Arkansas led by 25 in the third quarter of the Nov. 20 game in Conway, Ark.
Quoting head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
On the team's focus during the two-week break
"During our time off we discussed how much we were putting our opponents at the free-throw line and it was costing us ball games that we had opportunities to win. We also pointed out that in the games where we had more second-chance opportunities, we were victorious. And just when we thought we had life figured out, we let something else go wild, which was rebounding and not shooting the ball well."
On how the team matched up with the Golden Eagles
"In the first half, I thought we did a decent job of playing post defense, but we weren't crashing the glass and boxing out. Our inability to rebound and make shots tonight cost us to have a horrible second half."
On Tolliver and Nwarie appearing in their first game this season
"It was great having them on the floor. They are excellent defenders and really gave us a spark off the bench."
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