Golden Eagles win at OPSU, Wayland Baptist
GOODWELL, Okla. — The John Brown University women’s basketball team scored the first 12 points of the second half, blowing open a 28-28 halftime deadlock, as the Golden Eagles ran away with their second-straight win in a 63-47 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 7) inside the Anchor D Arena.
Forcing nine turnovers in the third period, John Brown (11-4, 5-4 Sooner Athletic Conference) outscored the host Aggies 17-6 behind eight points in the quarter from sophomore Emily Sanders. JBU finished the second half by outscoring OPSU by a 35-19 margin to capture the Golden Eagles’ fourth consecutive win away from Siloam Springs.
Senior Tarrah Stephens opened the second half with a layup, Sanders hit a triple and graduate student Maci Mains knocked down another triple during the pivotal stretch that provided the visitors a commanding 40-28 lead just more than 6 minutes, 30 seconds into the third quarter.
Although the Aggies (1-11, 1-8) fought back into the single digits, senior Lisa Vanoverberghe’s layup midway through the fourth opened a 14-point advantage, 51-37, and she later hit a threepointer with just 33 seconds left to produce JBU’s largest lead of the half of 17 points, 62-45.
The John Brown defense held the Aggies to 25 percent (8 of 32) from the floor and 12 turnovers in the second half, while the Golden
Eagle offense improved to 46 percent in the second half (12 of 26), despite the hosts outrebounding JBU. John Brown also held all five Aggie starters to single-digit scoring and just 19 percent from the field.
OPSU’s lone double-digit scorer came in the form of Jamiya Eaddy’s 15 points and seven rebounds.
Stephens scored 15 of her gamehigh 21 points in the second half, shooting 8 for 17 from the floor and hitting 5 of 7 from the charity stripe to accompany nine rebounds. Sanders finished with 15 points – off three triples – and seven boards, while Vanoverberghe netted 13 points on a 6 of 10 effort from the floor, finding double-figure scoring for the third time in her last four outings.
The Golden Eagles will now look to make it five in a row away from Bill George Arena at 6 p.m. Thursday night (Jan. 12) when John Brown takes on Mid-America Christian (Okla.) at 6 p.m. The contest inside the Gaulke Activity Center is slated to air live on the SAC Sports Network.
John Brown 68, Texas Wesleyan 61
PLAINVIEW, Texas — The John Brown University women’s basketball team used an 11-0 run in the middle of the second quarter to double up the Flying Queens en route to a 68-61 win over Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Thursday night (Jan. 5) inside the Hutcherson Center, grabbing the
Golden Eagles’ first win in West Texas since Feb. 1, 2014.
Powered by 14 points apiece from sophomore Emily Sanders and junior Natalie Smith, the Golden Eagles ended a sevengame losing skid inside the Hutcherson Center.
Graduate student Maci Mains and senior Lisa Vanoverberghe both hit triples, graduate student Maddie Altman drained a jumper and senior Tarrah Stephens contributed a trio of free throws, which pieced together an 11-0 run in the second quarter that blew open a 23-17 JBU advantage into a 3417 contest with 2:25 left in the first half.
Smith added one more triple and Sanders sank a jumper just before time expired to actually extend the lead to 18, 39-21, at the break.
After shooting poorly in the first half, the Flying Queens (9-5, 5-3) improved to just over 40 percent in the second half, outscoring the Golden
Eagles 18-14 in the third to close within 14 before the final stanza.
While Wayland would eventually close within five points down the stretch, the visitors never allowed a big Flying Queens rally and responded with a few key buckets to blunt the host’s momentum. Jenna JacksonCooper opened the fourth with a triple but a Stephens layup and a pair at the line from Vanoverberghe was the answer. At the midway point, Wayland strung together a quick 5-0 run, including an andone, but Smith’s fourth triple of the evening again took the wind out from a WBU comeback bid.
Wayland slowly clawed back but Stephens finished a layup from junior Bella Irlenborn with 1:48 remaining. Then, the Golden Eagles finished the road win by hitting all four attempts at the charity stripe — a pair each from Stephens and Irlenborn — hanging onto the first win of the 2023 calendar year.
Smith and Sanders each hit four triples while Stephens used a 5 of 6 effort from the line to finish with 11 points and nine rebounds. Vanoverberghe completed a 6 for 6 evening at the foul line, and although John Brown shot just 38 percent (19-of-50), 12 of its 38 buckets were from deep and the visitors ended the evening hitting 18 of 20 from the stripe.
Kaitlyn Edgemon was responsible for a third of Wayland’s scoring effort with a game-leading 21 points on 9 of 22 shooting from the floor. Jenna Jackson-Cooper was held in check, and battled through a difficult 3 of 15 scoring line, but added 10 boards. Taylor Houston contributed 11 rebounds in the loss.