Women's Basketball Scrapes Past SAGU in Quarters
WAXAHACHIE, Texas -- In a contest that saw both team shoot under 35 percent, the fourth-seeded John Brown womens basketball team (18-13) completed a three-game season sweep of fifth-seeded Southwestern A.G. (Texas) with a 51-41 victory, this time in the Sooner Athletic tournament quarterfinals inside the Shaffer Center on Thursday (March 3) afternoon.
Freshman Baily Cameron netted seven of her team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Golden Eagles wrangle away a low-scoring affair from SAGU. Cameron left her mark on the game with a 6-of-11 mark from the field and secured seven rebounds while dishing out a pair of assists in the win.
After JBU fell behind 16-10 after the first quarter, the Golden Eagles pushed back on the Lions and the raucous Shaffer Center crowd by out-scoring the Lions 41-25 over the final 30 minutes of play, keeping SAGU in single-digit scoring in the final three periods.
Cameron's biggest buckets came in the fourth, with the first coming at nearly seven minutes left to break a three-minute scoreless drought. Senior Brooke Barker dished out a pass to Cameron at the arc from the block, and Cameron nailed a triple to keep SAGU at a four-point disadvantage. SAGU's Charity Page, who scored a game-high 17, stuck an and-one on the next possesion, vaulting the Lions within one score. Finally at the 5:38 mark, Cameron's spin move on the block returned the lead to four, 43-39, until sophomore Jana Schammel scored on the next possession to build the lead to six.
The John Brown defense was magnificent, holding the Lions to a mere 26.2 percent on the evening, and limited SAGU to one field goal over the final 4:51 after Schammel's make. Schammel, Cameron and junior Kodee Powell combined to finish 6-of-8 at the line in the final minute to ice the contest.
With the victory, the Golden Eagles not only move to 13-0 against the Lions and 6-0 in the Shaffer Center, but move onto the tournament semifinals to take on top-seeded and No. 14 Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Friday (March 4) at 3 p.m. The Flying Queens have won 19 straight and haven't lost a game since JBU handed WBU a setback on Dec. 3 to open the 2015-16 conference slate.
Sophomore Courtney Fine stepped up in the second period, netting a shot both outside and inside the arc, sending John Brown to an 11-9 advantage to pull within four, 25-21, at the half.
The SAGU lead extended to nine, 30-21, in the third until Barker's and-one setup a 14-2 run by the Golden Eagles. Cameron hit her second first triple of the game and sophomore Kimmy Deines' running layup through the lane gave JBU its first lead of the game at the 5:06 mark, 33-32. Barker hit another jumper before the Lions were able to end the streak.
Schammel and Deines each contributed nine points on the afternoon while Barker posted seven. Both Cameron and Deines secured seven rebounds to help John Brown to a 39-30 advantage on the glass, a huge difference from the last time the two teams met on Feb. 13 at the Shaffer Center and the Lions out-boarded JBU, 52-36.
Besides Page's 17 points, no Lion was able to score more than six points as SAGU finished 1-of-16 (6.3 percent) from the behind the arc.
