WAXAHACHIE, Texas -- Looking to end the 2019-20 season in the victory column, the Golden Eagles held a late lead that dwindled over the final minutes of play as the John Brown University women's basketball team fell 76-74 at Southwestern A.G. (Texas) on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 29) inside the Sheaffer Center.
Freshman Tarrah Stephens capped off a solid first campaign with a career-high 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the floor, hitting 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. In her final collegiate contest, senior Jordan Martin contributed 14 points and four boards, while senior Ally Teague added six points and a team-best 10 boards.
The contest featured two wide lead changes just in the first half. The Lions raced out to a nine-point lead, 14-5, to open the contest, but later in the second quarter at the 1:37 mark, Martin hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe to give the visitors an eight-point margin, 45-37, completing a 17-point swing in the first 20 minutes of play.
SAGU quickly whittled the margin down to three before the intermission, 45-42, and took a 52-47 lead while the Golden Eagles suffered through an offensive drought. Stephens immediately hit back-to-back buckets and later triples from seniors Sara Williams and Ally Teague sustained the offense, allowing JBU to take a one-point lead into the fourth.
The Golden Eagles built a five-point lead early after freshman Maddie Altman's layup and held a narrow lead through the majority of the quarter. Stephens' bucket down low gave John Brown a four-point lead, 69-65, with 3:52 to go, but the Golden Eagles could only find one more field goal down the stretch while SAGU's Lexi Rich hit a triple and converted a pair at the line for the hosts' comeback win.
Rich had an afternoon on senior day, scoring a game-high 32 points on 11-of-27 shooting from the field. She hit five triples and added four rebounds and a trio of helpers. Sydney Meador, along with Rich, played all 40 minutes and scored 16 to combine with nine rebounds. Tamera Derrough posted 14 points and Alexis Caher notched a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
After shooting 51 percent (18-of-35) in the first half, John Brown fell to 35 percent (10-of-28) in the latter half and connected on just 3-of-12 from behind the arc. SAGU, meanwhile, shot 42 percent in both halves. The Golden Eagles narrowly out-rebounded SAGU by a 35-34 margin.
The Golden Eagles said goodbye to a crew of four seniors at the end of the contest in Williams, Martin, Teague and KJ Roh. The quartet combined for 68 victories and one appearance at the NAIA National Championships.
