Road trip starts well, ends in devastation

By Tim Rath

Contributing Reporter

The Oakland University women’s

basketball team faced a fork in road on its trip this weekend.

The Golden Grizzlies (14-9

overall, 7-6 conference) could have played Saturday as if low on fuel, showing

the effects of three straight heartbreaking losses.

Instead, they squashed

Centenary like roadkill en route to a 72-55 victory.Sophomore forward Hanna

Reising led the way, filling up the stat sheet with 18 points, four rebounds,

four assists, and five steals. Junior guard Jessica Pike added 18 points and

three assists, while sophomore guard Melissa Jeltema scored 11 on 5-of-6

shooting to round out the Grizzlies scoring in double figures.

OU and Centenary exchanged

leads for the first 10 minutes of the game, drawing at 17-17 with 9:50 to go in

the half after a 3-pointer by Pike. Another three from Pike jump-started a 15-6

Grizzlies run that ended the first half at 32-23 in OU’s favor.

Reising pushed the lead to 13

points, 38-25, with 17:21 to play in the second half. Centenary responded with

a seven-point run to draw within six.

The Grizzlies took control of

the game after that, widening the margin by as many as 21 with 1:45 to go in

the game, eventually cruising to the final score of 72-55.

Centenary out-rebounded the

Grizzlies 34-33 on the strength of 6-foot-2 forward Anne Farrell. However, OU

managed to grab 24 turnovers from the Ladies, and out-shot them by a one

percent marin.

During the first half of

Monday night’s game at Oral Roberts, OU appeared to have kept the momentum

going.

They led by as many as 13,

eventually taking a 10-point lead into halftime on the strength of 59 percent

shooting and nine forced turnovers.

However, the Grizzlies just

couldn’t get started in the second half. Their shooting dropped to 23 percent and

they were out-scored 37-20, falling to ORU, 73-66.

Jeltema notched her fifth

double-double of the season, leading the Grizzlies in the losing effort with 14

points, 15 rebounds, two steals, two blocks and two assists. Pike added 11

points, while junior guard April Kidd scored 13 and grabbed six rebounds.

The Grizzlies’ 10 point

advantage was quickly pushed to 12 at the beginning of the second half, but

from there, ORU began to chip away. A 17-4 run ended with 8:46 to go in the

game and OU ahead by a score of 54-53.

The Grizzlies fought to

maintain the lead over the next three minutes, getting ahead by as many as five

with 5:17 left to play. However, Oakland couldn’t hold off the Golden Eagles as

they took a 68-66 lead with 1:47 to go, and the Grizzlies forced six turnovers

over the last two minutes to cement the victory.

The Grizzlies return home

Saturday to play the IPFW at the Athletics Center O’Rena. Tip-off is scheduled

for 3:30 p.m.