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Western Illinois University Athletics

Dick Carlson/Inertia

Box Score

Western Illinois WIU 12-18

Oral Roberts ORU 18-12

Western Illinois WIU

12-18

Final

Mar. 10, 2019

Oral Roberts ORU

18-12

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Western Illinois WIU	11	9	22	22	64
Oral Roberts ORU	15	17	20	16	68

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | Sunday, March 10, 2019

Season Ends in Part 3 Thriller vs. Oral Roberts

Western and Oral Roberts entertained again in the Summit League quarterfinal.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – This season's matchups between the Western Illinois and Oral Roberts women's basketball teams have been nothing short of entertaining. All three decisions have been separated by seven points or less, and the latest occurred in The Summit League Tournament Sunday (March 10) where the Golden Eagles won 68-64.

Western Illinois finished its 2018-19 season 12-18 overall and 8-8 in league action.

"Obviously we got off to a really, really tough start in the first half. I thought we played well defensively despite Lakota Beatty hitting seven threes. If you would have told me we would hold them in the mid-60s before the game, I would have taken that any day and thought we would have a great chance of winning," said head coach JD Gravina.

"We just had a poor shooting night, especially in the first half, and we're a team that depends on that. When you're not shooting well it just feels like everything is difficult. I was really happy with our fight in the second half. We kept cutting into it; we made them hit a shot here, a shot there and made them make some plays down the stretch to win. I'm proud of them, and we obviously have a great group coming back. We'll miss Taylor Higginbotham but to have everyone else coming back, we have some really good young players, and I'm still excited about the future."

The Golden Eagles won the opening tip and were stripped seconds later as Olivia Kaufmann cashed in on a 3-pointer. Oral Roberts' first two possessions resulted in turnovers and unanswered points by the junior point guard, but it held a 10-5 edge by the first media timeout (4:21).

Kyra Washington put an end to the ORU run with a 3-ball, and it was followed by another trey from Annabel Graettinger. Western cut its deficit to 12-11 after the makes but was held scoreless for nearly six minutes as the opposition padded its lead to 20-11 in the second quarter.

Oral Roberts took a 32-20 advantage into halftime with the Leathernecks shooting 18.2 percent (6-33) from the field.

Money from behind-the-arc all season long, Washington breathed new life into the Leathernecks with back-to-back scores in the third quarter and all of a sudden it was a seven-point game at 36-29 with 6:05 on the clock. The Leathernecks crept within five when she splashed another 3-pointer at the 6:48-mark and it created the closest differential until Taylor Higginbotham drained a long play to make things 63-60 with 1:17 to go.

Kaufmann finished the afternoon with a team-high 16 points and eight rebounds. She was joined in double-figures by Higginbotham (15), Washingotn (11) and Graettinger (11).

The Leathernecks have one senior on their roster in Higginbotham. She became the program's all-time leading scorer this season and wrapped her collegiate career with 1,806 points, 806 rebounds, and 238 steals. The latter two categories ranked third and fifth in school history, respectively.

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