JBU basketball
Golden Eagles split at Texas Wesleyan
FORT WORTH, Texas — Working through a mid-season offensive drought, the No. 18 John Brown University women’s basketball team pieced together its best first quarter of the new semester and held on late to defeat Texas Wesleyan 62-58 on Saturday afternoon inside the Sid Richardson Center.
Sophomore Baily Cameron topped all scorers with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, including a 6-of-6 afternoon from the line, while junior Kimmy Deines added 10 points and four boards. Junior Jana Schammel came off the bench for the first time this season, contributing 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, posting six defensive rebounds in the win.
“We played like our old self tonight,” said JBU head coach Jeff Soderquist. “I thought we did a really good job defensively the first half. I think they have got two of the best post players in the league. I was very happy with our defensive effort. In the first half we were also clicking on offense. We needed to handle the last two minutes of the games better then we did.”
After a 22.2 percent shooting performance less than 48 hours prior in a loss Thursday at Southwestern Assemblies of God, the Golden Eagles (11-6, 3-3 Sooner Athletic Conference) hit 9-of-16 from the floor in the first 10 minutes and forced six Ram turnovers, building an insurmountable 23-10 lead at the end of the period. John Brown shot 56.3 percent in the first 10 minutes of play.
The advantage grew by as many as 16 in the second when Schammel hit her first behind the arc of the night, handing the
visitors a commanding 35-19 lead. The deficit for Wesleyan (11-5, 4-2) held at 15 at the intermission, 37-22.
The Rams owned the second half of the contest, including a strong third quarter that featured seven JBU turnovers. Schammel’s second trey of the afternoon pushed the Golden Eagle lead back into double-digits, 49-38, but Alycia Louallen’s layup with under a minute left cut the deficit to nine, 4940, to enter the final frame.
Triples from junior Courtney Fine and Louise Skrastina continued to plague Wesleyan as both bombs moved the needle from single to double-digits early in the fourth. After 2:01 without a field goal, JBU landed a timely three-pointer from Deines with 3:21 left in the game to keep the distance at 60-49.
Cameron converted a pair at the line with 2:01 left, but the Rams finished the contest on a 7-0 run, closing an 11-point gap to just four. A last-second desperation attempt from Ashlie Bruner behind the arc wouldn’t have been enough even if it had fallen, as the Golden Eagles finally picked up a win in the Lone Star State and with it, erased a two-game losing skid.
Although the Rams, behind 15 points from Katelynn Threats, controlled the paint, 34-10, JBU turned seven offense rebounds into 10 second-chance points. The visitors narrowly controlled the glass, 33-29.
Bruner scored a team-best 16 points and added four assists for Wesleyan. Falesha Fuller contributed nine points on 4-of-7 shooting and committed six steals in the loss.
JBU finishes its four-game road swing on Thursday when it takes on Science & Arts (Okla.) in Chichasha, Okla. Tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. The Golden Eagles return home for their first home game in more than two weeks at 3 p.m. Saturday against St. Gregory’s (Okla.).