Oral Roberts guard Jordan Doyle scored a career-high 19 points with 4-of-4 shooting behind the 3-point line to lead the Golden Eagles to a 60-56 win over South Dakota Wednesday inside the Mabee Center.

 

It was the second home win of the season for Oral Roberts (5-10, 2-1 Summit), which spent majority of its nonconference slate on the road. South Dakota (10-5, 1-1 Summit) drops the contest in Tulsa for the second consecutive season.

 

Senior guard Tia Hemiller nailed a 3-point field goal with 3:38 remaining to tie the game 54-54. Hemiller recorded her sixth career double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. She also extended her double-digit scoring streak to 12 games. Hemiller dished out four assists and had a block.

 

“We had a chance there at the end,” commented head coach Amy Williams. “We tied up the game despite not shooting well. We gave up a layup to a wide open basket. Meanwhile, Oral Roberts dominated going to the basket and outscored us in the paint.”

 

The Coyotes missed eight field goals in the remaining minutes as Oral Roberts pulled out of reach. The Golden Eagles finished off the game on a 6-2 run, including a layup from Doyle. Doyle had banked a half-court shot at the first half buzzer to give Oral Roberts a 29-27 halftime lead.

 

Oral Roberts leads the Summit League in 3-point defense this season while allowing opponents only 28.4 percent beyond the arc. As the league’s most accurate 3-point shooters at 39.0 percent per game, the Coyotes made 9-of-30 (30.0 percent) outside the arc. South Dakota shot 18-of-63 (28.6) from the field overall.

 

South Dakota won the battle of the boards by outrebounding the Golden Eagles 52-37. The Coyotes put back 10 second-chance points.

 

The game down low was controlled by the Golden Eagles, who outscored the Coyotes 32-10 in the paint. Forward Faith Ihim had eight points while forward Blair Bryce added seven more.

 

A key differential on Wednesday was the points scored off turnovers. Oral Roberts scored 18 points off 18 South Dakota turnovers. The Golden Eagles had nine steals in the game, including four by guard Ashley Beaty and three from Ihim.

 

Junior guard Caitlin Duffy, who sat out the final three games of nonconference action healing a foot injury, scored 14 points in her second game back. She also grabbed six rebounds and handed out two assists.

 

Senior guard Kelly Stewart scored nine points and grabbed five boards.

 

The Coyotes return to the DakotaDome Saturday to host Omaha at 1:30 p.m. The game will be the first of a double-header with the men to follow at 4 p.m.