The Cougars’ woes continue as they dropped their fourth-straight contest 76-60 on Wednesday against Oral Roberts.
Roxana Button scored 27 points for the Cougars (0-4), and was a threat from behind the arc finishing the game 5-11 from three-point range.With senior Porsche Landry sitting out, Button ran the offense for the Cougars, but yielded 13 turnovers.
“It’s frustrating to be 0-4,” Button said. “I can’t remember the last time I lost four games in a row. But we have to put it behind us and look forward to the next game and try to get that W.”
Freshman forward Terran Alford did not have the best offensive night for the Cougars shooting only 2-10 from the field for five points, but finished the game with 20 rebounds.
“We’re getting there,” Alford said. “Slowly but surely we’re getting there. There’s definitely a fire in our eyes.”
Head coach Todd Buchanan was disappointed with the loss. He said that he felt that the team had beaten itself. The Cougar squad failed to take care of the ball and finished with 31 turnovers.
“It seems like every time we think we’re getting better, we shoot ourselves in the foot,” Buchanan said. “(Oral Roberts is) a very good defensive team but they’re not a pressing team and we had 31 turnovers tonight. I would be willing to bet that 20 of them were due to us and not them. That’s how you lose basketball games.
“I felt that more so tonight than any game to this point we really didn’t give ourselves a chance to win.”
Led by junior guard Kevi Luper, the Golden Eagles (5-0) dominated the floor with quick-up plays off of rebounds. ORU won the fast break battle 24-6 while Luper finished 10-17 from the field for 24 points.
Landry missed the game as a precautionary measure after she sustained a head injury against Georgetown. Button said that despite the injuries, the team has to step up and win games.
“We have so many injuries right now so we have a limited number of practice players,” Button said. “But I don’t want to use that as an excuse. We have to prepare and practice harder so that the game is easy.”