Balanced offense leads women past Omaha
The ORU women's basketball team defeated Summit League opponent Omaha Saturday afternoon in the Mabee Center, 74-53.
The Golden Eagles were led by a balanced offensive attack. Vicky McIntyre had a game high 18 points and 10 rebounds. Dorottya Balla scored 14 for ORU. Atoe' Jackson had 13. Jordan Doyle and Bernadett Balla both had nine points.
"[Vicky] does a great job, with her height, of looking for those cutters and looking for those open shooters as well so it keeps things balanced," ORU Head Coach Misti Cussen said. "It's one of those where it's a shared responsibility and the more we can keep the balanced scoring, the less they can key off of one or two people."
ORU shot 57.1 percent in the first half and finished shooting 51.9 percent for the game. They outscored Omaha 38-14 in the paint.
"I think we did a good job moving without the ball," McIntyre said. "If I got double-teamed there were always cutters. That's good, that helps us get wide open shots and they have to choose their poison whether they are going to give us the three, give us the inside shot, or give us the dump down."
The Golden Eagles did a good job getting to the free throw line. They continued their solid shooting this year, going 17-20. Omaha shot only five free throws the entire game.
ORU had a scary moment early in the first half when McIntyre limped off the court. She said after the game that she landed on her knee wrong. She returned to the game and played 31 minutes.
"You can't let it affect you," she said after the game.
Next up for the Golden Eagles is a pair of critical road games. ORU is 0-8 on the road this year. First up is South Dakota State on Jan. 29. Then they face league-leader South Dakota on Jan. 31.
"We just need to keep playing like we're playing [now]," McIntyre said. "We've played so well at home and it hasn't come over so far on the road. We just need to keep this same mentality and play exactly the same way we play at home."
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