Furious Third Quarter Breaks Women’s Basketball’s Five-Game Skid
SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (January 16, 2016) -- After shooting just 38.7 percent in the first half, the John Brown women’s basketball team (10-8, 3-3 SAC) caught fire in the third quarter and held Texas Wesleyan (7-8, 2-4 SAC) to just seven points, allowing the Golden Eagles to break a five-game losing skid with a 72-55 victory on Saturday (Jan. 16) afternoon inside Bill George Arena.
The win pushes JBU’s home mark to 9-1 this season, second-best overall (.900) in the Sooner Athletic.
Guarding a narrow 32-30 lead after the intermission, the Golden Eagles hit five of its first seven from the floor and finished the third with a 9-of-14 shooting mark to build a 17-point lead, 54-37. Four triples from junior Kodee Powell (2), and sophomores Courtney Fine and Jana Schammel highlighted the offensive funk-breaking frame as senior Brooke Barker netted eight of her 10 points in the third.
While both squads each scored 18 in the final quarter, the Rams could not any closer than 10 points, after a brief 8-0 run, as freshman Cameron Bailey hit a timely triple with 2:39 remaining to halt the rally and followed with a pair at the line after her own steal on the ensuing possession. Barker capped the contest with two more from the stripe, allowing John Brown to counter TWU’s final run with a 7-0 clinching rally of its own.
The Golden Eagles received a balanced scoring effort with five players in double figures. Cameron notched a team-high 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting while Schammel and sophomores Kimmy Deines and Courtney Fine each contributed 11 each. Fine came off the bench and hit 3-of-4 from behind the arc in 16 minutes of play. Barker flirted with a double-double, finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds.
For the first time in six games, JBU won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding the Rams by a 37-12 margin, aided significantly by the bench. John Brown reserves secured 12, compared to Wesleyan’s five.
In a tense first quarter, the Golden Eagles found itself in an early hole, 6-2, but used consecutive buckets, both in transition, from Cameron and Schammel to take an 8-6 lead. The lead swung back to the visitors by two buckets, and the Rams held the lead through the remainder of the quarter. Down 16-10, senior Sofia Mendoza, sophomore Mariah Knox and Schammel each hit buckets to end the first quarter on a 6-0 run, trailing 18-16 at the first break.
Powell hit her first triple of the night from the left arc, causing the third lead change of the contest, to open the second. The lead grew to four, 22-18, after Deines’ triple at the 6:58 mark, and then to five, 25-20, once Fine stepped into her first triple of the game from the deep right corner. Although JBU scored just one field goal in the final 4:35 of the period, Cameron’s downtown score pushed the lead to six, 30-24, before Wesleyan finished the half on a 6-2 run.
JBU recovered from a poor shooting mark in the first half to finish at a 45.6 percent (26-of-57) mark while the Rams hit 42.9 percent (27of-63) of its chances. TWU attempted six more field goals by virtue of John Brown earning shots at the line, and converting 10-of-11 chances, while the Rams finished 0-of-4 from the charity stripe.
Katelynn Threats scored a game-high 20 points while Chervelle Cox and Courtney Chargois added 12 in the loss for the Rams.
Looking to start a fresh winning streak, the Golden Eagles will return to action on Thursday (Jan. 21), when JBU travels to Chickasha, Okla., to take on Science & Arts (Okla.) at the Drover Fieldhouse. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
