Golden Eagles women cool off in fourth quarter
PLAINVIEW, Texas — Senior Kimmy Deines’ second 3-pointer of the afternoon tied the game at 53 apiece, but No. 5 Wayland Baptist (Texas) responded with a 12-5 run to hand the John Brown University women’s basketball team a 67-60 defeat in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at the Hutcherson Center.
After starting out the fourth quarter hitting two of their first three shots from the field, the Golden Eagles (18-11, 12-8 Sooner Athletic Conference) fell into an offensive rut, hitting just 2 of 8 for the remainder of the quarter, compounded by seven turnovers.
Senior Rosa Orpo cut through the lane and absorbed a foul while hitting a tough layup to pull JBU within 59-58 after hitting the free throw, but back-to-back triples from the Flying Queens (23-5, 16-4) put the game out of reach.
Junior Baily Cameron contributed her seventh double-double of the season after a quiet first half. She scored 17 points and added a season-high 14 rebounds.
Deines added 10 points, six rebounds and a game-best eight assists in the setback.
The Golden Eagles scored 13 fewer points below their season average, yet still the visitors
shot more than 40 percent from the field and behind the arc, converting 22-of-49.
But hampered by its
25 turnovers, the Golden Eagles allowed the Flying Queens to hit 26 of their 65 attempts in the game. WBU enjoyed 28 of its points to come off John Brown miscues (42 percent).
Maci Merket was Wayland Baptist’s lone double-digit scorer, scoring 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field, but converting three triples to accompany four rebounds, four assists, four steals and a block.
With the loss, John Brown locked itself into the fifth seed for the opening round of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament. JBU was scheduled to travel to Mid-America Christian (Okla.) on Tuesday. Results were not available at presstime. The winner returns to Bill George Arena for a women’s semifinal game on Friday afternoon.