Defense keys Golden Eagles’ second-quarter surge
Jeff Soderquist shouted “Get in there!” followed by “Boom!” as Kimmy Deines’ 3-pointer from the corner beat the halftime buzzer.
The swish put an exclamation point on a second-quarter run that helped John Brown University’s women’s basketball team knock off Science and Arts (Okla.) 70-60 inside Bill George Arena on Saturday.
The victory kept the Golden Eagles (15-9, 9-6 Sooner Athletic Conference) within striking distance for fourth place in the league standings (they’re 1.5 games back of Mid-America Christian) while also snapping
a seven-game winning streak by the Drovers (21-4, 13-3).
“This week was big for us,” said JBU coach Jeff Soderquist. “We had a disappointing loss (77-61 at MACU) on Thursday and I think if we want to make a run for fourth place, which means we’re hosting (a first round SAC Tournament game), then every game from here on out is a mustwin.
“We’ve got to take it game by game and let things fall where they may.”
Defense keyed a 20-9 scoring advantage in the second quarter and JBU would never trail again. The Golden Eagles ran a collapsing man defense to keep the ball out of the paint and combat the Drovers’ size advantage inside. They also used help-side defense each time Dierra Ely tried to isolate her defender off the dribble. Ely had just two points in the first half, but finished with a team-high 15.
The strategy resulted in five turnovers by the Drovers during JBU’s secondquarter surge and fueled a 35-21 halftime lead.
“I thought we did a good job of owning the paint, especially in the first half,” Soderquist said. “They really couldn’t get the ball inside. If they did, it wasn’t around the rim, so we did a really good job of guarding the paint and that was the difference in the first half.”
Siloam Springs native Baily Cameron scored 11 of her game-high 19 points in the first half. She had four rebounds, including two to help seal the game in the final minute. Soderquist was concerned about his “goto player” after Cameron had played 34 minutes on Thursday, but applauded Preslea Reece and Ally Teague for helping spell Cameron, the team’s leading scorer.
Teague was the first player off the bench as Luize Skrastina has missed the past two games with a concussion. Teague had nine points, three rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal in 21 minutes. Skrastina could return this week, which may be essential because Teague ended up exiting Saturday’s game with a possible head injury of her own.
USAO made several rally attempts in the second half, but JBU was able to answer each time. When the Drovers closed the deficit to 6257, Jana Schammel drained a 3-pointer and Rosa Orpo followed with another to help their team maintain control in the closing minutes.
Schammel played only five minutes in the first half, but was a major factor in the second half. She finished with 16 points by connecting on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.
In the third quarter, a strange situation unfolded that resulted in USAO coach Derrick Matthews’ ejection. Matthews called timeout to argue with an official after Schammel drew an offensive foul call against Ely. A JBU campus safety officer intervened and exchanged words with Matthews as the two walked back to the bench. Whatever was said resulted in a technical foul and, moments later, Matthews was tagged with another technical and ejected.