ATCHISON, Kan. -- After being down by many as 14 in the second quarter, the No. 12 John Brown University women's basketball team rallied and had a chance to win the game, but a three-point attempt from senior Jana Schammel was short, and the Golden Eagles fell to No. 9 Benedictine (Kan.), 70-67, on Tuesday night (Nov. 7) at the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium.
Senior Kimmy Deines scored a team-best 13 points on three triples and a 6-of-6 night at the line while senior Rosa Orpo netted 12 in her first outing of the season by hitting 4-of-9 from the field, but the Golden Eagles (1-1) couldn't overcome 26 turnovers and 17 Raven offensive boards in the loss.
"I was proud of how we fought back and had a great chance to win the game," admitted head coach Jeff Soderquist, "but we are not going to beat good teams turning the ball over as many times as we did tonight and giving up that many second chances. The other team just has too many extra possessions. We will learn from this and get better."
Benedictine (3-0) attempted 14 more field goals than JBU, and held a 15-4 advantage in second-chance points.
The first quarter was not kind to the visitors as John Brown shot just 3-of-10 from the floor and committed eight turnovers in the first ten minutes. Benedictine countered with a 9-of-18 mark from the field and held a 20-10 lead after the first frame.
The Raven lead ballooned to as many as 14 points midway through the second, but back-to-back triples from Orpo and junior Preslea Reece finished off a 9-2 JBU run as the visitors pulled within five, 31-26.
The deficit was six at the half.
Benedictine returned the difference to double digits through the majority of the third quarter, but an and-one from junior Karina Chandra closed the gap to eight just before the end of 30 minutes.
A Baily Cameron old-fashioned three-point play pulled John Brown within three with 1:51 left in the contest, but fouls caught up with JBU as the Ravens shot 8-of-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch. A great move by Deines inside made it a one-point game with 19 seconds left and a turnover on the ensuing Raven possession gave John Brown a chance to take a one or two-point lead. However, Schammel's attempt from the deep right corner wouldn't fall.
The Golden Eagles finished shooting significantly better than the hosts, hitting 21-of-47 from the field and 9-of-19 from deep, but the Ravens hit 20-of-28 shots at the charity stripe and held a slim 36-34 rebounding advantage.
JBU returns to action Saturday (Nov. 11) with a trip to Springfield, Mo. to face Evangel at 6 p.m.
