MACOMB, Ill. — Shots were missed.
His point guard struggled against a defense that didn’t let her go anywhere.
The third quarter was a problem again, at least for a while.
But for Western Illinois University women’s basketball coach JD Gravina, the 56-49 win over Oral Roberts on Saturday afternoon was a work of art.
What mattered was the Leathernecks didn’t get swept at home in a weekend of Summit League play, an early hole that Gravina didn’t want.
“It wasn’t a fun game to watch, and I’m sure for the players it wasn’t a fun game to play,” Gravina said. “As a coach, it was a huge, huge win for us, bouncing back like that against a good team.”
The Leathernecks, Summit League regular-season and tournament champions last season, are going to get everyone’s best, so they’re going to have to be at their best.
They weren’t in Thursday’s 82-58 loss to South Dakota. They struggled at times in this game, but were able to get the win.
“I thought that being able to win a grind-it-out game like this is important for us,” Gravina said. “In the past there were times where, if we weren’t getting up and down and scoring 78 points, we had no chance. I feel like now, if we don’t have a chance to win a game that way, we can win a game this way.”
The Leathernecks had lost three of their last four games since the 71-64 road win over a ranked Stanford team on Dec. 18.
“I would say it was extremely important, just to get back on the winning track,” said junior guard Taylor Higginbotham, who led the Leathernecks with 19 points and 14 rebounds. “I think we lost track of ourselves at a time there, and we talked about it a little bit yesterday, just how we wanted to get back to playing our way, getting back to our principles. I think we did a good job of taking what Coach told us, and executing tonight.”
The Leathernecks (12-5 overall, 2-1 Summit League) held Oral Roberts (10-6, 2-1) to 34.5 percent shooting, including 26.7 percent in the second quarter and 25 percent in the fourth.
“Gravina always emphasizes that — if our shots aren’t falling, you can stay in the game with defense,” said forward Olivia Braun, who had 16 points and eight rebounds. “Eventually a shot is going to fall. As long as the defense is there, we’re going to stay in the game.”
Western Illinois was outscored 31-11 in the third quarter against South Dakota. The Leathernecks let a 26-20 halftime lead turn into a 34-33 deficit in the third quarter of this game before Higginbotham hit a 3-pointer to start a 21-6 run.
Higginbotham had 11 points in that run.
“The momentum of the game was awesome,” Higginbotham said. “We were finally getting stops, our defense was coming together. I think it was just being in the right place at the right time. We were moving well together, and I was the person who was open and got the shots. It was just the way we played together.”
Oral Roberts held Western Illinois guard Emily Clemens, who came into the game averaging 16.9 points per game, to just seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Higginbotham and Braun, though, were able to find openings in the Golden Eagles’ defense. Braun was 7-of-14 from the field, while Higginbotham was 5-of-12.
It was the sixth double-double of the season for Higginbotham.
The Leathernecks play two of their next three games on the road, feeling a little better about themselves.
“I don’t think it gets too much tougher playing South Dakota and Oral Roberts in that opening weekend (at home),” Gravina said. “If you lose both, it really gets you. This was a good game to get.”
ORAL ROBERTS (10-6, 2-1)
Faith Ihim 2-10 0-0 4, Maria Martianez 6-12 0-0 12, Maya Mayberry 5-15 1-2 12, Jordan Gilbert 1-3 2-4 4, Sarah Garvie 4-9 0-0 12, Rachel Skalnik 0-4 0-1 0, Montserrat Brotons 0-1 0-0 0, Keni Jo Lippe 2-4 0-1 5. Totals: 20-58 3-7 49.
WESTERN ILLINOIS (12-5, 2-1)
Olivia Braun 7-14 1-2 16, Emily Clemens 2-11 3-4 7, Morgan Blumer 2-7 0-0 4, Michelle Farrow 3-7 0-0 8, Taylor Higginbotham 5-12 5-10 19, Olivia Kauffman 1-3 0-0 2, Sam Pryor 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 20-55 9-16 56.
Oral Roberts;11;9;20;9;—;49
Western Illinois;14;12;20;10;—;56
Total fouls: Oral Roberts 20, Western Illinois 14. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: Oral Roberts 6-16 (Garvie 4-7, Lippe 1-3, Mayberry 1-4, Martianez 0-1, Skalnik 0-1), Western Illinois 7-24 (Higginbotham 4-8, Farrow 2-5, Braun 1-3, Kaufmann 0-1, Clemens 0-3, Blumer 0-4). Rebounds: Oral Roberts 38 (Martianez 12), Western Illinois 39 (Higginbotham 14). Assists: Oral Roberts 13 (Ihim, Martianez, Lippe 3), Western Illinois 14 (Kaufmann 5). Blocks: Oral Roberts 1 (Gilbert 1), Western Illinois 4 (Braun 4). Turnovers: Oral Roberts 19, Western Illinois 14.