SILOAM SPRINGS -- Senior Tarrah Stephens paced the offense with a game-high 21 points and the Golden Eagles allowed just one field goal over the final eight possessions to advance the No. 13 John Brown University women's basketball team in the NAIA National Women's Basketball Championships, defeating Xavier (La.) by a 61-50 margin on Friday night (March 15) inside a raucous Bill George Arena.
Improving to 6-6 all-time in the national tournament and 13-0 this season in Siloam Springs, the Golden Eagles (29-3) received double-digit scoring from a trio of players, including senior Natalie Smith and junior Emily Sanders as the hosts had to overcome a 2-of-11 shooting night behind the arc. Once again, the versatile squad adapted.
If necessity is the mother of all innovation, the Gold Nuggets (25-7) relentless defense forced the JBU offense into a different mode of efficiency. Instead of coming anywhere close to its 25 triple attempts per night, John Brown found a new way to win and finished 23-of-42 (55 percent) inside the arc.
To that effect, the hosts out-scored XULA by a 44-23 margin in the paint and 50-38 overall from two-point range. Behind eight rebounds from Stephens and a huge seven caroms secured by senior Leah Anderson – six in the second half alone – the Golden Eagles won the rebounding battle, 40-28.
Smith finished 5-of-13 from the floor and accounted for both JBU triples to finish with 12 points. Sanders filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, on 4-of-6 shooting, the accompanied six rebounds and three assists.
After jetting out to a quick 4-0 lead, John Brown was countered but used six straight points from Stephens in the first to take a 14-6 lead after a 10-2 run. Xavier responded with a 10-3 rally of its own to pull within one, 17-16, but the hosts continued its torrid first-half shooting (52 percent) through the second quarter and used a put-back from senior Josie Sisk and a 9-4 run-ending triple from Smith before the intermission to create some breathing room, 34-28.
The Gold Nuggets came out swinging in the third quarter and applied a full-court pressure that results in three quick buckets, pulling back within one possession, 36-34. After settling some nerves, John Brown responded with it's best defensive stint of the game by holding XULA to two field goals over its final 10 possessions of the third quarter as JBU bolted out to a 12-4 run, highlighted by an incredible Stephens maneuver through the paint that beat two Gold Nuggets' best efforts. The program's all-time leading scorer scooped up a shot around the XULA post player 12 feet from the bucket and got the attempt to fall, plus the and-one. Stephens added one more before the break for good measure, stretching the lead to 10, 48-38.
Smith book-ended an 8-2 quarter-opening run, and suddenly with Bill George Arena buzzing, John Brown had generated a game-high 16-point advantage, 56-40. While Xavier did score 10 of the game's final 15 points, the JBU defense held the Gold Nuggets to 3-of-11 from the floor over the final five minutes of the night.
XULA finished the evening at 33 percent overall from the floor (21-of-63), and just 2-of-16 (13 percent) from behind the arc. It was the 27th time John Brown held its opponent under 40 percent shooting this season. The Golden Eagles are undefeated in those games.
The Golden Eagles are 2-0 all-time in the First Round of the NAIA National Championships after the tournament expanded to include 64 teams. Last season, John Brown registered the tournament's largest upset, taking down No. 9 Loyola (La.) in New Orleans before bowing out of the field in the Second Round.
John Brown will now take on No. 16 Indiana Tech, the quadrant's six seed, at 4 p.m. inside Bill George Arena on Saturday afternoon (March 16). The meeting is the first ever between the two programs as the squads will battle for one of 16 spots in Sioux City next week.
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