Shipley Drops 14, John Brown Falls at Rogers State, 66-55
CLAREMORE, Okla. (February 4, 2013) - Junior guard Sierra Shipley scored a team-high 14 points and grabbed four rebounds, but 50.0 percent shooting from the floor by the host squad landed No. 16 Rogers State (18-6, 8-2 SAC) an 11-point victory, besting the Golden Eagles (9-14, 4-7 SAC), 66-55, Monday night at the Claremore Expo Center.
Shipley finished the contest 3-of-5 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers to pace all John Brown scorers. Shipley converted all six free throws attempted. Junior forward Kortni Barenberg also chipped in with a double-digit effort, handing in a 5-of-8 night, powered by two triples, while sophomore forward Morgan Ankrom chipped in eight points. Barenberg lead all Golden Eagle rebounders with eight boards.
Sierra Cornwell turned in an impressive night for Rogers State, dropping a game-high 18 points to accompany her four rebounds and nine steals. Logan Froese, Leah Smith and Ariani Silva each finished in double-digit points.
Cornwell started the game off with a pair of steals, leading to a quick 4-0 lead for the Hillcats. Baskets by Abbie Warren and Shipley returned the favor, knotting the score at four apiece. Down 9-5 at the 15:59 mark, the Golden Eagles took its first lead of the game, 10-9, after Barenberg knocked down a triple before Lauren Rogers netted her first points of the game.
Morgan Ankrom's triple handed the visitors its first, and only, lead of the game, 12-9, until Smith responded with a trey of her own, forcing the second tie of the half. Cornwell would later split a pair of tries from the charity stripe as RSU regained the lead and would not relinquish it for the rest of the match.
With 8:11 remaining in the half, Barenberg's bucket down low, as a result of a Hillcat turnover, trimmed the host lead to one, 15-14, but Cornwell took over again, grabbing the next seven points herself and piecing together a personal 7-0 run. The lead would continue for Rogers State for the rest of the half until a Shipley three-pointer brought the Hillcat lead back to five, 29-24, as RSU took a slim 31-25 lead into the intermission.
Although Rogers State attempted eight more shots, both teams finished the first stanza with comparable shooting percentages. The Golden Eagles shot 39.1 percent (9-of-23) while the Hillcats converted 41.9 percent (13-of-31) of its shot attempts.
In almost identical fashion to the opening of the first half, Cornwell started the second half off with back-to-back buckets, pushing the RSU lead to 10, 35-25. Teams would trade baskets over the next 5:22 until Rogers State grabbed a game-high 14-point lead, 48-34, with 12:20 left in the contest. Brooke Barker's triple, and only field goal of the game, brought the lead back to 11 just before Barenberg's second long-distance make trimmed the lead down to seven, 49-42.
However, five Golden Eagle turnovers down the stretch allowed the Hillcats to rebuild its lead back to 14, 64-50, with just over 120 seconds left. John Brown attempted a late rally as Shipley knocked down a pair of free throws and Anna Parish converted a three-pointer, bringing the RSU advantage into single digits, but two makes at the charity stripe with about a minute left handed Rogers State the 66-55 victory.
The Golden Eagles committed 23 turnovers in the loss as RSU finished with 16 steals on the night. The Hillcats converted the JBU miscues into 28 points while John Brown only managed 12 points on 12 Rogers State errors.
John Brown won the battle of the boards, 32-29, but allowed 10 offensive caroms for the host squad as the Hillcats notched a 26-16 points in the paint advantage. Each team finished with seven second-chance points. JBU landed 40.9 percent of its shots but Rogers State turned in a 45.5 percent shooting effort on the night.
The Golden Eagles will have a chance to rest before returning to action on Saturday, Feb. 9, when it travels to No. 3 Oklahoma City (18-2, 10-0 SAC). The Stars boast a 17-game winning streak as it hosts JBU to a 3:00 p.m. start time.
