FT. WORTH, Texas -- Four times in the second half the Golden Eagles pulled within one possession, but were never able to regain its first-half lead as the sixth-seeded John Brown University women's basketball team fell 61-58 at the three seed, Texas Wesleyan, on Friday (Feb. 25) evening in the Sooner Athletic tournament quarterfinals inside the Sid Richardson Center.
Junior Tarrah Stephens split a pair at the line to open the fourth-quarter scoring to pull the Golden Eagles within two, 50-48, but the John Brown offense couldn't generate a field goal through the first 6:19 of the fourth quarter, allowing the Rams to piece together a 9-2 run and take a 59-50 lead.
Stephens' layup at the 3:41 mark mercifully ended the shooting drought, and after allowing the Rams to rebuild a nine-point lead, the Golden Eagles went to work on its final push.
With just over two minutes remaining, senior Maddie Altman's layup jump-started an 8-0 run that saw back-to-back triples from sophomore Natalie Smith and junior Lisa Vanoverberghe, whittling the hosts' lead to just one, 59-58.
The JBU defense then held firm, taking possession with just over 30 seconds left, and a chance to take the lead. Instead, a missed layup forced the Golden Eagles to foul Texas Wesleyan until the Rams went to the line, where both conversions fell. With four seconds left and no timeouts remaining, Smith's desperation triple from the right corner was off target.
Despite the loss, the Golden Eagle (16-16) defense held the host Rams in check all night, holding the hosts to a mere 32 percent (24-of-74) from the field and just 3-of-22 (14 percent) from long range. JBU utilized a 10-of-31 (32 percent) effort from behind the arc, but the visitors lost both the turnover and rebounding battle – causing TXWES to hold key advantages in points off turnovers (16-7) and second-chance points (16-2).
Smith hit five triples and led John Brown in scoring with 19 points and added three assists. Stephens completed her sixth double-double of the season, scoring 16 while pulling down 12 caroms. Altman finished with seven points and seven assists.
The Rams (24-5) advance to the SAC tournament semifinals thanks to nearly three double-double performances. Kertisa Amos led all scorers with 24 points and nine rebounds, while Makayla Coy posted 16 points and 12 boards and Zarria Carter ended the night with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
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