Dec. 14, 2003

EDINBURG, TX-Oral Roberts got the jump on The University of Texas-Pan American's women's basketball team in their game at the UTPA Fieldhouse Sunday night. The Golden Eagles outscored the Lady Broncs, 19-4 at the start of the game only to see UTPA cut their lead to two points at halftime. ORU did it again in the second half, scoring the first eight points after intermission and taking a 10 point lead en route to a 67-57 victory.

Texas-Pan American fought back in each half. A 10-0 run midway through the first half allowed them to come within three points, 25-22 with 8:33 left before halftime. Junior guard Ashley Roberts (Hernando, MS/Hernando HS/Butler County CC) fueled the run with a three-pointer and a jump shot, junior center Molly Schamel (Hector, NY/Watkins Glen HS/Yavapai College) connected on a layup, and senior forward Mary DeCock (Lamberton, MN/Red Rock Central HS/Northeast CC) capped the run with a three-pointer. A subsequent jumper by DeCock brought the Lady Broncs to within one, 31-30, with 2:34 left, and junior guard Jennifer Piwonka (Louise, TX/Louise HS) hit a jump shot to make it 35-33, ORU, at halftime.

UTPA fought back in the second half, but could never get closer than five points. DeCock's trey cut Oral Roberts' lead to 57-52 with 5:52 remaining, but the Golden Eagles maintained their lead and hit four free throws in the final minute to preserve their victory.

Roberts led the Lady Broncs with 20 points, five assists and four steals. DeCock added 13 points and eight rebounds.

Elisha Turek had 20 points and eight rebounds for ORU, while Leah Cannon added 12 points and nine assists. ORU made 50.9 per cent of their shots from the field, while Texas-Pan American hit just 39.6 per cent. The Lady Broncs also made just seven of 16 shots from the free throw line.

"The difference was that Oral Roberts made their shots, and we didn't," said UTPA Head Coach DeAnn Craft. "ORU was coming off a big loss, and they got ahead, but I was very proud of the way we fought back. We showed great patience against their zone in getting back into the game. Their point guard (Cannon) did a good job of handling the tempo. We missed too many free throws, and we had too many miscues."

The Lady Broncs fell to 5-2 with the defeat, while ORU improved to 3-4. Texas-Pan American will return to action when they visit Texas Wednesday evening.