GOODWELL, Okla. -- Junior Baily Cameron scored a game-high 22 points and the John Brown University women's basketball defense held Oklahoma Panhandle State to 29 percent from the floor on the night, as the Golden Eagles inched one win closer to obtaining a home-court advantage in the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals with a 74-49 win over OPSU on Thursday (Feb. 22) inside the Oscar Williams Fieldhouse.
With one game remaining in the regular season, the Golden Eagles (18-10, 12-7 SAC) are tied with Mid-America Christian (Okla.) for the fourth and final spot for home responsibilities in the quarterfinals on Feb. 27. If both programs win or both lose on Saturday, MACU wins by virtue of sweeping the Golden Eagles this season. If JBU can manage a victory at No. 5 Wayland Baptist (Texas), and MACU loses at home to Southwestern Christian (Okla.), JBU finishes with the better conference record.
In order to reach that point, Cameron hit the 20-point mark for the 12th time this season, including seven times in her last eight outings. She added six boards, three assists and three steals to her final statistics line while sophomore Jordan Martin came off the bench to contribute 12 points and six rebounds on an efficient 4-of-6 shooting effort. As usual, senior Kimmy Deines passed out five assists, a game high, and added nine points and a team-leading seven rebounds.
Compounded by OPSU's poor shooting night, the Aggies (14-13, 6-13) were out-rebounded significantly (47-29) while hitting 17 of 59 from the field and committing 18 turnovers. Madison Dearmin, Monti Regier and Addison Munsch each scored nine points, but the hosts couldn't produce a single double-digit scorer in the Aggies' third straight loss.
A strong 24-7 second-quarter margin powered the Golden Eagles to a 38-22 lead, behind a 9-of-18 shooting quarter. Although the Aggies rode a 11-5 run late into the third quarter to pull within 10, John Brown had an answer, powered by a timely Luize Skrastina 3-pointer, with an 11-3 run of its own to pull way for good.
The Golden Eagles closed the regular season on Saturday at Wayland Baptist. Results were not available at presstime.
Sports on 02/24/2018