Australian Sapphire (women’s Under 21 national team) Rachel Watman scored a game high 18 points to lead Oral Roberts University to a 72-55 victory over Oakland University in the Mid-Continent Conference final last week, earning her team an automatic berth into the NCAA national championship tournament.
The Golden Eagles, who finished with a 22-10 win/loss record, were down by as many as eight points in the first half, but a 37-20 second half turnaround saw ORU claiming the MCC title.
In a full 40 minutes on court, Watman shot 5-of-10 from the field, including 3-of-6 from three-point territory, to go along with 8 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal.
One day previously, Watman scored a career-high 19 points to lead ORU to a 69-63 win over Valparaiso in the Mid-Continent Conference semi finals.
“The feeling is unbelievable,” she told Basketball Australia.
“We want to make some noise in the tournament and one of our team goals is to get to the second round.”
Katie Langford of South Australia and Sarah Davidson of New South Wales also play for ORU.
As for the Oakland game, the Golden Grizzlies went up 19-11 after a 3-pointer by Hanna Reising at the 11:49 mark of the first half and held a five point advantage over the course of the next five minutes.
Mid-Con Tournament MVP Elisha Turek scored off a jumper and a lay-up to decrease OU’s advantage to 24-23 before ORU went up 28-26 at the 4:31 mark courtesy of a Turek jumper.
The Golden Eagles looked like they were going to go into halftime with a lead but Oakland’s Nicole Piggott made a jumper with only four seconds remaining to level the scores at 35-all.
ORU shot at a 48.3 percent clip and went 5-of-9 (55.6%) from beyond the arc while Oakland shot 53.6 percent.
Watman drained a 3-pointer on ORU’s opening possession in the second half for a 38-35 Golden Eagle lead and OU would not get any closer the rest of the game.
Another 3-pointer by Watman with 14:23 left stretched the Golden Eagle lead to 49-39 before a small rally from OU reduced the margin to 56-51.
But the Golden Eagles went 8-of-10 from the charity stripe and ended the game with an 8-0 run to leave the final score at 72-55.
Watman and Turek finished with 18 points each.
The Golden Eagles shot 46 percent in the game and finished the day with a 58.8 percent clip (10-of-17) from long range.
The Golden Eagles will find out their destination and opponent tonight with ESPN covering the tournament selection process at 5:00 p.m. central time while the Oral Roberts University Athletics department is hosting selection show ‘watch party’ at the team practice gym.
Click here for a box score.
Meanwhile, ACT youngster Alison Lacey's (pictured) dream freshman season at Iowa State University just keeps getting better.
Last Wednesday night the Cyclones defeated the nationally ranked Texas A&M Aggies (No. 13) 57-51 in a Big 12 Conference Tournament semi-final in Oklahoma City.
It was Iowa’s eighth consecutive win, propelling them into Saturday's Big 12 Championship game against Oklahoma.
Lacey scored an equal team-high 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting and contributed one of her team’s ten successful triples.
At stake in Saturday's nationally televised final is a guaranteed berth into the 64-team NCAA National Championship Tournament, however the Cyclones with their impressive 25-7 win/loss season may earn a trip to the dance either way.
