Golden Eagles bringing back wealth of experience this year
■ The JBU women open the season at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Ozark Christian (Mo.).
With five returning starters back from last year’s team, there should be lots of familiarity with the John Brown women’s basketball team heading into the 2022-23 season.
John Brown has a quintet of players who started at least 23 games and helped the Golden Eagles go 16-16 overall and 11-11 in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
A year older and wiser and more experienced should mean good things for the Golden Eagles, who open up their season at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, against Ozark
Christian (Mo.).
“I think it’s good,” said JBU coach Jeff Soderquist (358-372), who’s entering his 26th season at the helm of Golden Eagles basketball. “Because we’ve been young and they’re finally getting to maturity.”
A focal point for the JBU offense will once again be 5-foot-11 senior forward Tarrah Stephens (Wyandotte, Okla.), who led the team with 16.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game and earned WBCA AllAmerican honorable mention honors as a junior. Stephens was the Sooner Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2019-20 and earned SAC All-Conference honors the last two seasons.
“Obviously it starts with Tarrah Stephens,” Soderquist said. “She’s had a couple of really good years and we’re hoping she’ll have some more.”
Soderquist said Stephens needs to get better with her consistency, referencing large scoring outputs like a school record 45-point outburst at Oklahoma Panhandle State last year and then other games where she would struggle.
“We’re wanting her to be more consistent,” Soderquist said. “I think if she can improve on her 3-point shot, that will add an element to her game.”
Graduate student Maddie Altman (Littleton, Colo.) is back for her fifth season after averaging 8.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. She led the team with 138 assists and was an All-SAC honorable mention selection.
Altman (5-7) graduated from JBU with four majors in the business area and is working on her master’s degree.
“She’s amazing,” Soderquist said, “Almost a 4.0 in four majors. She wanted to do her graduate work in the business area and that academically all worked out.”
“She’s just kind of that staple. She’s one of our best defenders. She knows the game, knows our system. She doesn’t have to score 18 points a game to have a huge impact on the game.”
Junior guard Natalie Smith (5-8) of Bentonville is back after averaging 14.2 points per game and hitting 44.3 percent (89 of 201) of 3-point shots. She was a third-team All-Conference selection last year.
Soderquist said the team needs Smith to get more consistent on the defensive end and help with rebounding, but no one debates her offensive game.
“She can flat out shoot and she can get inside and hit that mid-range jumper,” Soderquist said. “I think that gets overlooked because of her threes. She’s got an allaround offensive game.”
Smith’s old Bentonville teammate Emily Sanders, a 5-10 redshirt sophomore guard, was an All-SAC Freshman Team selection after averaging 8.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
“After not playing for two years, we threw her to the wolves last year by starting her at point,” Soderquist said. “She just kept getting better.”
Soderquist said he has challenged Sanders at improving her 3-point shot and handling full court pressure.
Senior Lisa Vanoverberghe (5-11, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) started 28 games last year and averaged 7.6 points and hit 35 of 100 from behind the 3-point line.
“Lisa is super athletic for her height,” Soderquist said. “We’re excited to have her back and in her senior year. Her biggest thing is learning to play the game more physical.”
Other returners include sophomore guard Graci Harris (5-7, Georgetown, Texas), who played a lot of point guard a year ago as a freshman.
“She plays so hard,” Soderquist said. “This fall, she’s one of our leading rebounders. She reminds me of (former Golden Eagle standout) Taylor Fergen. She hustles, plays hard, plays great defense and gives you everything she has.”
Junior forward Grace Latham (6-2, Martindale, Texas), senior Jessica Goldman (5-10, Lincoln), junior Leah Anderson (5-7, Rush, Colo.) and junior Elise Cone (5-7, Bartlesville, Okla.) are all back and can help.
Senior Kenzie Silkey (5-5, Pryor, Okla.) tore her ACL last spring, while junior Josie Sisk (5-11, Huntsville) has been out all fall with a shoulder injury.
The Golden Eagles welcome three newcomers to the roster, and all three should help on the floor.
Senior graduate student Maci Mains (5-4), a former Springdale Har-Ber standout, transfers in from Henderson State, where she averaged 8.9 points in 100 games with the Reddies. Mains had a pair of 30-point outbursts at Henderson, going for 38 in a win against Harding and a 35-point, nine assist game against Southern Arkansas.
“We’re real excited to have her,” Soderquist said of Mains, who can play a point or shooting guard spot.
Former Bentonville High standouts Bella Irlenborn and Nadia Akbar also join the team.
Irlenborn, a 6-2 junior, transfers from Southwest Baptist (Mo.), played in 14 games last season and averaged 6 points and 7 rebounds.
Akbar, a 5-8 freshman, missed her senior season due to a knee injury.
“She can really drive and finish,” Soderquist said of Akbar. “All three are going to help us. The hard thing is going to be playing time. It’s been very competitive, even the girls have mentioned it.”