TULSA, Okla. -- Behind Jaleshia Roberson's career-high 32 points and their best shooting effort in five seasons, the Missouri State Lady Bears sprinted past Oral Roberts, 99-81, Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Center. Roberson connected on 8-of-12 three-point attempts, including 5-of-7 in the second half to help MSU overcome the Golden Eagles' high-powered offense and improve to 7-3 on the season.
Roberson, who went 12-of-19 from the floor overall, accounted for 16 points during a 30-15 run over an eight-minute span in the second half immediately after ORU had pulled to within 45-41. The Kansas City native sparked the run by draining a three at the 16:33 mark, then connected successfully on two more long-distance tries over the ensuing two minutes. Finally, her triple with 8:29 left capped the spurt and handed MSU a 19-point edge that the Golden Eagles would never seriously threaten.
The Lady Bears would stretch their lead to as many as 27 in the closing minutes, closing the game with their best offensive half of the season. MSU would outscore ORU 56-48 in the period while shooting a blazing .613 from the field, including a 7-of-13 (.538) effort from three-point range.
Four Lady Bears joined Roberson in double digits, including Jasmine Malone, who was a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. She totaled 15 points to go along with a team high seven rebounds and a career-high four assists. Melissa Busby also turned in a strong all-around effort, chipping in 16 points, three assists and two steals, while Casey Garrison contributed 10 points, eight assists, five boards and five steals.
Missouri State's runaway victory didn't come without a fight from the Golden Eagles, who entered the game averaging a Division I-best 90 points per contest. MSU connected on 18-of-37 (.486) field goal attempts in the opening period to overcome 12 early turnovers and take a 43-33 lead into the halftime locker room.
ORU jumped out to an early five-point lead on threes by Jaci Bigham and Georgia Jones, but the Lady Bears went to work from three-point range, drilling four threes over a four and-a-half minute stretch to build a nine-point advantage. Roberson would hit on three of her five attempts from long range and score 11 points in the half, and her second trey of the game with 12;54 to go snapped a 12-12 tie and gave the Lady Bears a lead they would never relinquish.
The Lady Bears would push their lead to as many as 13 late in the period, but ORU's Kevi Luper kept the home team within striking distance with 12 first-half points.
The Golden Eagles (7-4) sliced into the MSU lead in the early stages of the second half by scoring eight of the first 10 points coming out of the break. A Jordan Pyle bucket at the 14:34 mark capped a 13-6 run for the Golden Eagles and trimmed the ORU deficit to 51-48.
But Roberson's hot hand carried the Lady Bears, who would go on to post their best single-game shooting performance since hitting 57.6 percent of their field goal attempts against Texas A&M in the quarterfinal round of the 2005 WNIT (3/24/05). Saturday's point total also represented MSU's top offensive showing since March 8, 2003, when they recorded a 107-53 win over Evansville, and its best offensive effort on the road in nearly 18 years, dating back to a 109-45 win at Western Illinois on Feb. 13, 1992.
Luper led five ORU players in double figures with 24 points on 10-of-25 shooting. The Golden Eagles also enjoyed a strong showing from three-point range, hitting on 6-of-14 attempts in the second half and 11 tries for the game.
The Lady Bears will conclude the non-conference season with a Tuesday (Dec. 22) road contest at SIU Edwardsville that will be televised live in southwest Missouri on Mediacom (MCC-22). Tip-off from the Vadalabene Center is slated for 7:05 p.m.
