OKLAHOMA CITY -- An early lead quickly evaporated and the No. 20 John Brown University women's basketball team had its seven-game winning streak snapped on Thursday as No. 7 Oklahoma City outscored JBU in three of four quarters to take a 78-59 win inside Abe Lemons Arena.
With the loss the Golden Eagles (17-7, 9-4 Sooner Athletic Conference) fall three games back of the SAC-leading Stars and two behind Wayland Baptist (Texas) heading into Saturday's games. With a good chance to lay claim on the third seed in the upcoming SAC Tournament, JBU still must fend off the likes of Science and Arts (Okla.), which is just one game behind.
Oklahoma City, meanwhile, won its seventh straight game.
The Golden Eagles kicked off the contest with a trio of 3-pointers from freshman Jordan Martin, junior Luize Skrastina and senior Kodee Powell to take its largest lead of the game, 9-4, but the hot shooting from long range dried up quickly at the 7:23 mark.
The Stars (21-2, 12-1) responded with a 19-0 run to close out the quarter and never trailed after. City outscored John Brown 22-0 in fast break points and 44-12 in the paint.
Trailing by 11 midway through the second, sophomore Baily Cameron hit back-to-back layups and junior Rosa Orpo drilled her first triple of the contest to pull the visitors within four, 31-27. Later in the frame, Orpo hit a pair at the line and junior Jana Schammel, who scored a team-best 22 points, added a triple to close the lead back to five again, with 61 seconds left in the half.
With a chance to pull within two or three prior to the intermission, the Golden Eagles turned the ball over and OCU's Daniela Wallen recorded one of her game-best six steals and went down to hit a layup, en route to a game-high 30 points, to widen the gap back to seven.
The Stars would shoot 50 percent in the second half and started out the second half on a 10-0 run to effectively put the contest out of reach. The Golden Eagles shot just 30.3 percent (10-of-33) as the Stars' lead grew to 20 in the fourth quarter.
Six Golden Eagles made at least one 3-pointer, and 39 of JBU's 59 points came from behind the arc. The Golden Eagles attempted more shots from long range (34) than inside the arc (28), but shot just 38.2 percent from downtown.
Cameron was the only other Golden Eagle to finish in double figures, scoring 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the floor.
Backing up Wallen's 30 points was Daniela Galindo's 22 points. Wallen grabbed eight boards, helping City to a 40-31 advantage on the glass.
JBU returned to action at home on Saturday against Mid-America Christian (Okla.). Results were not available at presstime.
The Golden Eagles hit the road on Thursday for a 6 p.m. tip-off at Bacone.
Sports on 02/12/2017