After McKenzie Martin swished her seventh and eighth 3-pointers, coach Jeff Soderquist didn't say a word. He put both hands on the back of his head, elbows out, and simply walked slowly down to the end of his team's bench.
There was nothing to say and nothing else his John Brown University's women's basketball team could do to try to stop the Southwestern Assemblies of God sharp-shooter during the Lions' 78-67 win over the Golden Eagles at Bill George Arena on Thursday.
Martin, who entered the game shooting 44.8 percent from 3-point range, lit it up from the perimeter to help her team quickly erase an early eight-point deficit. The Lions (13-12, 8-9 Sooner Athletic Conference) were 18 of 37 from 3-point range with Martin and Lexi Rich combining for 13 made 3-pointers.
The Golden Eagles (16-10, 10-7) even extended their zone pressure, but Martin just set her feet a little deeper behind the arc to keep sinking shots. The 6-foot-2 junior's eighth 3-pointer tied a season high and she finished with a team-high 24 points.
"She a great shooter with a lot of range," said SAGU coach Tiffany Phillips. "She can shoot it from deep and with her height, she can shoot right over the top of people, so we try to use that to our advantage."
JBU opened with a 10-2 lead before SAGU broke the seal with a 3-pointer by Rich midway through the first quarter. The Lions went on to hit 9 of their first 13 shots from 3-point range and finished the first half 11 of 20 to take a commanding 47-25 lead into the locker room.
SAGU entered the game second in the league behind JBU in 3-point shooting percentage.
"We wanted to come out and kinda set the tone and let them know that, 'Hey, we can shoot it, too.'" Phillips said. "I told them at halftime I don't think we'll shoot 55 percent again and we didn't, but it was good to do that in the first half to get the lead like that."
The Golden Eagles defeated SAGU 55-41 in Waxahachie, Texas, on Jan. 13. They did it by limiting the Lions to 6 of 22 shooting from beyond the arc. Thursday's rematch was a complete turnaround.
"I told our team that's what other teams feel like when they play us," said JBU coach Jeff Soderquist. "I don't know if we could have kept up with their pace, but if we could have stayed a little closer in the second quarter, we could have made a difference where it wasn't such a big deficit at halftime."
John Brown managed to trim the deficit to single digits (71-62) with a 15-3 run that was capped off by a 3-pointer by Jana Schammel with two minutes, 57 seconds remaining in regulation. Schammel scored all 15 of her points, including three 3-pointers, during the second half comeback attempt.
However, the Golden Eagles missed a few open looks in the closing minutes and the Lions sank 7 of 8 free throws to secure the victory.
"Give them credit, they hit shots and we're able to hit some key shots to hang on there in the second half when we were making our runs at them," Soderquist said. "And we missed a couple of key shots, but I think we got tired trying to come back from such a big deficit. That's a lot of work."
Siloam Springs native Baily Cameron, fresh off a 30-point game on Tuesday, scored 15 of JBU's first 17 points and led all scorers with 32 points. The 5-10 junior power forward took advantage of mismatches when SAGU switched on screens out of its man defense.
"Baily does a good job to get open and knows how to score against a smaller defender, so we were taking what they were giving us," Soderquist said. "Then, in the second quarter, that's when the game got away from us a little bit. If we could have hung with them, then that second half comeback would have been a little easier."
SW Assemblies of God 78, John Brown 67
SW Assemblies of God^18^29^18^13^--^78
John Brown^17^8^26^16^--^67
SW Assemblies of God (13-12, 8-9): Martin 24, Rich 19, Glenn 15, Meador 8, Colbert 7, Wells 3, Diggles 2.
John Brown (16-10, 10-7): Cameron 32, Schammel 15, Dienes 7, Orpo 6, Fergen 2, Reece 2, Teague 2, Williams 1.
John Brown 67, Bacone 64
Plagued by a season-high 30 turnovers, JBU battled through the difficult Warriors' press and finished on a late rally to take a 67-64 come-from-behind victory on Tuesday night inside the Palmer Gymnasium in Muskogee, Okla.
For the second consecutive season, Cameron went off for a game-high 30 points at Bacone, hitting 13-of-17 from the floor. No three shots were more important than with the game on the line, as the Golden Eagles' leading scorer hit three-straight shots in the paint in the final two minutes.
Cameron pulled John Brown within one with a post move off a feed from sophomore Sara Williams with 1:51 left in the game. On the next possession, she hit a spinning left-handed layup to put the Golden Eagles on top 65-64.
With pressure mounting, Bacone coughed up the ensuing possession at the free throw line and JBU senior Kimmy Deines grabbed the steal, raced down the court and fed an open Cameron on the right post with a bounce-pass to complete the game-clinching 8-0 rally.
Up next
The Golden Eagles were scheduled to return to action at home Saturday against Texas Wesleyan. Results were not available at presstime.
John Brown is back on the court Thursday at Panhandle State in Goodwell, Okla.
Sports on 02/18/2018