JBU women’s basketball team defeats Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.)

The John Brown women’s basketball team got its turnovers under control in the second half and surged ahead of Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.) to take a 77-70 victory Friday in the Quality Inn Classic inside Bill George Arena.

The Golden Eagles, who had eight turnovers and trailed 36-35 at halftime, only turned the ball over twice in the second half.

And JBU was able to win despite its top scorer, Baily Cameron, being held in check with just five points by a stingy Linden wood Belle ville post defense.

“I think it was a good team win,” said JBU head coach Jeff Soderquist. “Baily didn’t have a good game, but they were playing her really tough in the post. We had other players step up.”

The Golden Eagles did enjoy having junior guard Kimmy Deines back on the court after she missed JBU’s win over Ecclesia last Monday.

Deines gave the Golden Eagles a spark and led with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Preslea Reece and Kodee Powell each scored 13 points.

“It was nice to have Kimmy back, she had big game for us,” Soderquist said.

Jana Schammel and Rosa Orpo each had nine points and Jordan Martin scored eight points off the bench for the Golden Eagles.

Alison Webb led the Lynx with 16 points, whle Brianna Mueller had 13 points.

Both teams returned to action on Saturday in the final day of the Quality Inn Classic. The Lynx played Oklahoma City, while JBU played College of the Ozarks (Mo.). Results were not available at presstime.