Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Stephens overcomes injury, sets JBU scoring mark
SILOAM SPRINGS — Tarrah Stephens went to the free-throw line in a tie game with 1 second remaining at Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Feb. 3, hoping to give John Brown’s women the lead and a program-record 17th straight victory.
In the moment, Stephens and JBU Coach Jeff Soderquist had no idea Stephens was about to shoot her away into the program’s record book.
Stephens’ first free throw rattled home, giving JBU a 61-60 lead and tying the program scoring record of 2,034 points set by Baily Cameron in 2019. Stephens’ second free throw also went down and just like that, the Golden Eagles had a 62-60 victory and a new all-time scoring leader.
“I knew she had to have 14 [points] to tie and 15 to take the lead,” said Soderquist, who pointed out the scoreboard at Wayland Baptist didn’t keep track of individual points.
“I had no idea where she was at,” Soderquist said. “Then we were walking in [the locker room] I told the coaches to give me stats so I could see. I looked at the stats and saw she had 15 and go, ‘Oh man, those two free throws won the game and got her the scoring title.’ ”
Stephens, a 5-foot-11 forward from Wyandotte, Okla., said it was fun to celebrate the moment with her teammates.
“It’s been great,” Stephens said. “My teammates have really just been wonderful. They like to rub it in and try to make me blush about it. I’m really just grateful that I got the opportunity to play.”
Cameron, a former Siloam Springs standout, set the scoring record in 2019, passing another former Lady Panther. Kendra McCormick Knoner, the leader prior to Cameron, scored 1,793 points from 2002-06.
When Cameron set the record, Soderquist never thought he’d see it broken again.
“It’s quite an accomplishment,” he said. “I never thought in my years, I never thought I would coach three all-time leading scorers between Kendra and then Baily passing her and now Tarrah passing Baily. Let alone I never thought I would coach two girls that scored over 2,000 points. That’s quite the deal. I’m very fortunate to have players like that.”
Stephens has been a mainstay at forward in the JBU lineup for five seasons, including an covid-19-shortened season in the winter of 2021 that saw the Golden Eagles play just 11 games.
As a freshman in 2019, Stephens was the Sooner Athletic
Conference Freshman of the Year after averaging 14.1 points.
She was an All-SAC second-team selection in 202021 and 2021-22 before earning first-team honors as a senior in 2022-23, averaging 19.5 points and 7.7 rebounds. She also earned NAIA All-American second-team honors as JBU went to the national tournament for the first time since 2017.
“With Tarrah when we recruited her, we actually didn’t know what position we were going to play her,” Soderquist said. “In high school she did it all. She brought the ball up the floor. She handled it. We were thinking at one point of her being a wing player. The fortunate thing about it, and Baily’s the same way, I’ve gotten players in that position that can play out and around the basket. We just don’t have them posting up.”
Due to the covid year, Stephens had an extra year of eligibility and returned to JBU this season as a graduate student. But her entire season was in doubt before it even started when she was sidelined with three bulging disks in her lower back and partial tears in two of those disks.
“We didn’t know what we were dealing with,” Soderquist said of Stephens’ status in the preseason.
“It’s not really something you can fix,” Stephens said. “It’s just we had to wait it out and see if the inflammation went back down. Then I got some injections in my back.”
Stephens said she’s grateful to have overcome the injury.
“When I got hurt I was super worried about [the injury],” Stephens said. “I really wanted to play this year. That was something I was really wanting to do, but at the same time, even if I was hurt and not able to play, it was still my team. Being able to play it’s been amazing.”
Stephens missed the first two games of the season and returned Nov. 10 against Evangel (Mo.) in the Mid-America Christian Classic in Oklahoma City. Since then she hasn’t missed a beat.
Following a 15-point, 5-rebound effort in a 58-47 victory over Southwestern Assemblies
of God, Stephens leads the Golden Eagles (213, 18-0) at 16.0 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
She’s averaging 26.9 minutes and shooting 43.7% (121 of 277) from the field, 37.7% (20 of 53) from behind the three-point line and 79.8% (91 of 114) from the freethrow line.
After scoring 19 points against North Texas at Dallas on Thursday and 15 Saturday, she currently sits at 2,069 career points.
“It’s a blessing,” Soderquist said, “and every time she falls on the floor I cringe … that she gets back up.”
More than the scoring record, Stephens is enjoying the run the Golden Eagles have been on this season.
“We’re all super excited,” she said. “Right now being undefeated in conference we’re all like we’ve got to keep pushing. We’ve got to get this all the way through. We’re wanting to go to that national tournament. We’re wanting to win the SAC, the conference. That’s what we’re all fighting for right now.”
“It’s quite an accomplishment. I never thought in my years, I never thought I would coach three all-time leading scorers between Kendra and then Baily passing her and now Tarrah passing Baily. Let alone I never thought I would coach two girls that scored over 2,000 points. That’s quite the deal. I’m very fortunate to have players like that.” John Brown women’s basketball Coach Jeff Soderquist