Women roll by SGU
The Golden Eagles scored the first 16 points of the game.
The John Brown women’s basketball team looked happy to be home Saturday.
The Golden Eagles — playing their first home game in more than two weeks — scored the first 16 points of the game and rolled from there to a 98-43 victory over St. Gregory’s at Bill George Arena.
The Golden Eagles (13-6, 5-3 Sooner Athletic Conference) won their third straight game and completed the season sweep of the Cavaliers (2-13, 0-8), who they beat 97-55 in Shawnee, Okla., on Dec. 3.
JBU head coach Jeff Soderquist said it was good for the ladies to get to play a home game after having played their last four on the road, including three in Texas.
“I kid about waking up in your own bed on Saturday morning, but I think that had a lot to do with it for the girls,” Soderquist said. “We had our
first breakfast this morning here together as a team. Just kind of having a little life back to normal, even classes starting, I think all that normalcy has really helped.”
The Golden Eagles hit nine of their first 11 shots, including several in transition where they simply beat the St. Gregory defense down the floor.
Luize Skrastina, who led JBU with 16 points, hit all four 3-pointers she attempted in the first half, including starting the game with a trey from the top of the key that rolled in. The Golden Eagles were off and running from there.
Jordan Martin scored inside off an assist from Kimmy Deines, and Skrastina hit another 3-pointer up top to force St. Gregory’s to call a timeout down 8-0.
Deines drove to the bucket and scored to make it 10-0 and Kodee Powell, Jana Schammel and Baily Cameron all scored underneath the basket for a 16-0 JBU lead.
The Golden Eagles also forced four straight St. Gregory’s turnovers in that span.
Kylee Tatum scored to end JBU’s opening-game surge, but JBU didn’t let off the gas.
Preslea Reece scored in transition and Powell hit a 3-pointer for a 21-4 lead. Another Reece basket and a 3-pointer and putback from Rosa Orpo gave JBU a 28-6 lead after the first quarter.
Skrastina hit another 3-pointer to open the second quarter and Cameron had a free throw and pair of transition buckets to make it 34-11. Skrastina nailed her fourth trey for a 39-11 lead, and Reece and Orpo would also hit treys in the second quarter as JBU took a 49-16 lead at halftime.
The lead only grew from there in the second half, but JBU didn’t seem to lose its intensity on either end of the court, even with the lopsided score.
“We were focused every single minute of the game,” said Skrastina, who is from Riga, Latvia. “Coach gave us tasks to do this game. We tried to do everything he asked us to do.”
Soderquist said it was good to see the players focused for the entire game despite the margin of victory.
“That’s what we kept talking about,” he said. “Let’s control ourselves. We’ve got to execute. I think even the players that don’t get to play very much came in and executed well. I do think we kept our focus and our poise.”
Four other JBU players joined Skrastina in double figures in the victory.
Cameron and Deines each finished with 13 points, while Reece had 11 and Schammel chipped in 10 for JBU.
The Golden Eagles hit 39 of 68 shots from the field (57.4 percent) and 13 of 24 (54.2 percent) from behind the 3-point line. JBU also won the rebounding battle 43-28, while forcing 21 St. Gregory’s turnovers and only turning the ball over 10 times of its own.
All 13 of JBU’s players on its roster entered the game and 11 of them cracked the scoring column.
JBU’s offensive outburst was good to see as well, Soderquist said, but there is still plenty more for the Golden Eagles to work on.
“We’ve got to handle things better when people switch things up on us,” he said. “The other night we were up 20 on USAO (Science and Arts of Oklahoma) who’s a very good team. They start pressing and we don’t handle it very well. Texas Wesleyan, we’re up big on them and didn’t end the game well. We’ve got to learn how to do that better.
“I think this second semester, our offense has kind of struggled a little bit at times, compared to first semester. But I think this second semester we’ve done really well being commmitted to defense. I think we’ve played a lot better defense this semester.”
The Golden Eagles stay at home on Thursday as they host Bacone at 6 p.m. at Bill George Arena. John Brown 98, St. Gregory’s 43 St. Gregory’s 6 10 13 14 — 43 John Brown 28 21 30 19 — 98 St. Gregory’s (2-13, 0-8): Tatum 21, Godbold 4, Fernander 4, Butler 3, Garrett 2, Howgard 2, Porter 2, English 2, Woodard 2, Harvey 1. John Brown (13-6, 5-3): Skrastina 16, Cameron 13, Deines 13, Reece 11, Schammel 10, Powell 9, Martin 8, Opro 8, Williams 5, Pelegreen 3, Roh 2.