SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- In a flurry of drama with three seconds left on the clock, a seven-point deficit was whittled down to just three by the Golden Eagles before Southwestern Christian (Okla.) held on to a narrow 65-61 final score on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 15) inside Bill George Arena.
SCU's McKenna Morley fouled out of the contest and put senior Ally Teague at the line for a pair with three seconds left and the Golden Eagles (8-17, 4-12) trailing by seven, 64-57. After Teague split the pair, visiting head coach Mark Arthur was assessed a technical for excessive disagreement, prompting another pair of attempts at the line by sophomore Maddie Altman as the tension grew.
Altman was only able to split the pair, but with possession and three seconds left in the game, the JBU inbound to Fegen was successful and she drew a foul on the three-point attempt with .4 seconds left, continuing the contest a little further. After making the first two, Fergen intentionally missed the third, but failed to contact the rim, which gave the visiting Eagles possession.
Out of a timeout, SCU was fouled before the inbound, allowing Kylee Vestal to split a pair at the line before the buzzer finally sounded.
Thamires Andrade earned 12 of her career-high 24 points at the line, using cuts through the lane to work her way to the charity stripe. She also posted her first-career double-double by securing a career-high 17 rebounds. Andrade capped off the outing with six assists in 36 minutes played.
Vestal contributed 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor while Makenzie Janz added 11 in SCU's fourth win in six games.
Freshman Tarrah Stephens scored 10 of her team-leading 16 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Golden Eagles erase a once 16-point deficit late in the third quarter. She nearly missed out on the double-double with nine rebounds, while junior Taylor Fergen added 15 points before fouling out of the game.
Both teams secured 33 rebounds, with Andrade nabbing over half of the visitors', but John Brown was able to convert seven offensive caroms into 11 second-chance points. The Eagles had only two.
The hosts also received a tremendous 23-8 scoring advantage from its bench, including nine points from sophomore Haley James and another six from senior Ally Teague.
While both teams shot equally poor from behind the arc, hitting just six apiece, SCU finished the game 19-of-48 from the floor (40 percent), but limited the Golden Eagles to a 32 percent clip on 17-of-53 shooting. Both teams hit 21 attempts at the free throw line.
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John Brown will close out the regular season home slate next week by welcoming Oklahoma Panhandle State and No. 5 Wayland Baptist to Bill George Arena. JBU takes on the Aggies on Thursday night (Feb. 20) at 6 p.m., looking for the season sweep.
