Flying Queens eliminate JBU from SAC tourney
Loss drops team to 20-9 for season; Golden Eagles now wait on possible national tournament bid
PLAINVIEW, Texas — In a matchup that was nearly statistically identical in most categories, fourthseeded Wayland Baptist used seven first-half triples to provide the cushion it rode for the rest of the game as the fifth-seeded John Brown University women’s basketball team fell 67-57 to the Flying Queens on Thursday night (Feb. 23) in the Oklahoma Ford Dealers Sooner Athletic Tournament quarterfinals inside the Hutcherson Center.
The loss drops John Brown to 20-9 overall on the season. The Golden Eagles will now have to wait for the NAIA National Championships Selection Show to see if its season will continue. The selection show is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, March 2, live on YouTube.
Senior Lisa Vanoverberghe’s triple opened the scoring and provided the Golden Eagles its only lead of the game, 3-0, before the Flying Queens (20-9) went on to shoot 7 of 17 from behind the arc for the remainder of the half, powered by Jenna Cooper-Jackson’s 5 of 9 effort from long range through the first 20 minutes of play.
The WBU lead grew to as many as 17, 44-27, shortly before the intermission.
John Brown pushed back, jumping out to a 10-0 rally to open the third quarter behind consecutive triples from Vanoverberghe and graduate student Maddie Altman. Back to within five, the Flying Queens ended the quarter with a 12-6 run of its own, setting up a final quarter with an 11-point margin.
Scoring was sparse in the fourth quarter, however, but through the first seven minutes the JBU defense held Wayland to a 1 of 9 effort from the floor and used the drought to make up five more points to pull within two possessions, 58-52.
The Flying Queens finished the final three minutes by limiting JBU to a 2 of 7 clip while the Flying Queens hit all four free throws down the stretch, returning the John Brown deficit to 10.
Senior Tarrah Stephens shot 11 of 14 from the floor and scored a team-high 26 points. Vanoverberghe hit three triples to finish with nine points, while sophomore Emily Sanders contributed eight points and three helpers in the loss.
Cooper-Jackson ended her career in the Hutcherson Center with 30 points on 10 of 21 shooting. Ashlyn Shelley scored 11 points.
The Flying Queens will now advance to the semifinals where it will take on top seed Texas Wesleyan on Monday afternoon (Feb. 27) at the Gaulke Activity Center on the campus of MidAmerica Christian (Okla.). Results were not available at presstime.