Dec. 6, 2008
Box Score | Quotes
CEDAR CITY, Utah - Despite placing four players in double figures, led by a game-high 17 points by senior Jessica Pike, the Oakland University women's basketball team (4-3, 0-1 Summit League) was unable to overcome a hot-shooting effort by Southern Utah (2-5, 1-0 Summit), as SUU's Kaila Goff drained a jumper with four seconds remaining to push the Thunderbirds to a 73-72 win over the Golden Grizzlies on Saturday at the Centrum Arena.
"We ran into a very hot team tonight," said head coach Beckie Francis. "Their strength is their inside game. They have an all-conference player in Westwood and a pretty good freshman that they recruited, and they weren't the ones that were hurting us. We were trying to guard them inside and out and it's really hard to defend that, and we dug ourselves into too much of a hole."
The Golden Grizzlies and Thunderbirds traded buckets over the opening eight minutes with neither team able to claim more than a two-point lead. However, with the game knotted at 18 with 10:22 remaining, SUU went on a 6-0 run that saw the T-Birds take a 24-16 lead. OU responded with a 6-0 run of their own, keyed by a layup by April Kidd at the 8:16 mark to knot the game at 24-24. SUU would again claim a four-point (31-27) advantage in the closing minutes of the half, but Pike knotted the contest at the 2:11 mark as she hit a free throw.
SUU held OU scoreless for the remainder of the half, and hit a pair of buckets to take a 35-31 lead into intermission.
Southern Utah charged ahead by as many as 11 (49-38) at the 14:40 mark, and held the lead until the 6:58 mark when Stacey Farrell drilled a 3-pointer to knot the contest at 62-62. The Golden Grizzlies claimed the lead at the 5:30 mark as Melissa Jeltema hit a pair of free throws, and once again took the lead as Brittany Carnago hit a layup with 3:31 remaining. However, the Golden Grizzlies would not hit a field goal the remainder of the way.
After a pair of free throws at the 2:16 mark by Kidd gave OU a one-point (72-71) lead, Goff hit her dramatic shot to seal the win for SUU.
Joining Pike in double figures were Kidd with 13 points, Jeltema with 12, and Carnago with 10. Jeltema led OU with nine boards, while Reising dished out five assists. SUU shot an incredible 58.3 percent in the first half, en route to a 46.3 percent effort for the game. The T-Birds connected on seven 3-pointers, holding a 43-38 advantage on the rebounding glass.
The Golden Grizzlies will return to action on Monday, Dec. 8, as they travel to Kansas City, Mo. for a Summit League contest against UMKC. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.
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