JBU women win SAC Tournament title
FORT WORTH —The John Brown women’s basketball team defeated Langston (Okla.) 53-42 on Tuesday to win the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament inside the Sid Richardson Center on the campus of Texas Wesleyan.
The tournament championship is the first in program history for the Golden Eagles (28-3), who have won 26 straight games and captured the SAC regular season championship as well.
“What a performance [Tuesday night], and it took everything we had,” JBU Coach Jeff Soderquist said. “We’ve been a great defensive team all year, and we had to have it again tonight. When you play somebody three times, they know what we’re doing and we know what they’re doing, but both teams did well defensively tonight.”
Senior Tarrah Stephens, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, scored 15 of her gamehigh 26 points in the second quarter — matching the Lions’ total scoring output of the first half. She also completed her fourth double-double of the season, pulling down 11 rebounds, helping stymie one of the nation’s best offensive rebounding teams. Langston finished with just eight second-chance shots.
Stephens also was the SAC’s Player of the Year for the regular season.
“[Tarrah] is just so versatile — she can post up, she can drive and she can shoot threes,” Soderquist said. “She’s just so difficult to guard. You have to guard her outside the three-point line and inside because she moves so well. We needed all [10] of her defensive rebounds [Tuesday].”
Leah Anderson went 3 for 3 from the field and scored 7 points for JBU while Graci Harris had 6. The Golden Eagles, normally a strong three-point shooting team, only went 2 of 17 from behind the line.
Natalie Smith went 4 for 4 in the final 39 seconds from the free-throw line to ensure the double-digit win.
Although the Golden Eagles were held to 35 percent (17 of 48) from the field, JBU converted 17 of 20 at the freethrow line.
Hailey Jordan and Koreea Kirksey each scored 10 for Langston (24-7), which had entered the title game winners in seven of its past eight outings.
Smith also earned all-tournament honors for JBU.
The Golden Eagles, who are ranked 13th in the NAIA coaches poll, now await which three teams will join them in the Siloam Springs bracket of the first and second rounds of the NAIA Women’s Tournament, scheduled for March 15-16 at Bill George Arena.
The winner of the fourteam field will advance to the Round of 16 in Sioux City, Iowa. The official NAIA Selection Show is slated for 7 p.m. today on the NAIA YouTube channel.