JBU win on road, snap four-game losing skid
GOODWELL, Okla. — The Golden Eagles started and ended well, building a 12-0 lead early in the contest and withstood an Aggie comeback attempt with a 23-13 margin in the second quarter as the John Brown University women’s basketball team posted a 69-56 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday afternoon inside Anchor D Arena.
“Great road win for our team,” said JBU head coach Jeff Soderquist. “Was a great team effort and Ally had a big fourth quarter that really helped. Plus, we only had four turnovers the second half, I thought that was huge.”
The Golden Eagles (6-13, 2-8 Sooner Athletic) shed their fourgame skid behind three doublefigure scoring performances, led by freshman Tarrah Stephens’ 15 points on 7 of 17 shooting. Senior Ally Teague contributed a season-best 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting behind the arc, while junior Taylor Fergen earned her third-career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Stephens hit three early buckets to score seven points in the first 2 minutes, 32 seconds of the contest and a Marta Matamala triple moments later built an impressive 12-0 lead in favor of the visitors. John Brown only hit two field goals for the remainder of the quarter, allowing the visitors
to finish the quarter on a 10-5 run to pull within seven.
The second quarter started with eight consecutive Panhandle points as the hosts took its first lead of the game, 18-17. After trading leads, OPSU actually held a 26-21 advantage until backto-back Fergen buckets returned the lead back to John Brown, 28-27. A triple just before the intermission handed the Aggies a one-point lead at the break, 31-30.
Triples from Fergen, Teague and senior Jordan Martin returned the lead back to John Brown, 41-33, midway through the third. Again, JBU entered an offensive lull for the remainder of the quarter allowing the hosts to crawl back to within three, 46-43.
After Panhandle State briefly took its final lead of the game, 47-46, three consecutive treys — one from senior Sara Williams and two more from Teague — flipped the score back in favor of the Golden Eagles, 64-56. A pair of Williams conversions at the stripe iced the contest as JBU outscored the Aggies 23-13 in the third, holding OPSU to 5 of 14 shooting from the floor in the final 10 minutes of play.
John Brown was 7 of 16 from behind the arc in the second half after a 2 of 13 effort in the first, finishing 9 of 29 (31 percent), but hit 25 of 61 overall from the field (41 percent). Despite committing 15 miscues in the contest, the JBU defense forced two more from the Aggies and held the hosts to a mere 4-of-22 effort from long range (18 percent).
Battling through 10 lead changes, the Golden Eagles out-rebounded Panhandle State, 47-43, and converted 11 offensive rebounds into eight second-chance points.
Lowendie Laporal was the lone Aggie (5-14, 0-10) to reach double figures, scoring 10 points and securing five rebounds off the bench. Laura Moya Demures scored nine in the loss, but turned the ball over seven times.
The Golden Eagles return to Bill George Arena on Thursday night to welcome Mid-America Christian in conference play. Tip is slated for 6 p.m.