Jeff Soderquist pointed to the 21 turnovers John Brown's women committed and said that was what kept his team from a possible upset Thursday night.
The last turnover hurt the Golden Eagles the most. It wiped out any chance of a game-tying shot as No. 7 Wayland Baptist escaped with a 71-68 victory during Sooner Athletic Conference action in Bill George Arena.
John Brown (14-10, 10-7 SAC) used its last timeout to get the ball in the frontcourt and worked the ball around. Baily Cameron, who led the Golden Eagles with 25 points, drove into the lane and tried to kick the ball out for a 3-pointer, but Deborah VanDijk picked off the pass and held the ball as time expired.
"We had some good looks," Soderquist said. "We got the ball to Baily on that one possession, and we ran the play we wanted. If Preslea (Lawson) would have taken that shot, I think we had an open 3. We were just a little hesitant.
"The big thing was the 21 turnovers. We just gave them too many extra opportunities. You can't give a good team like Wayland Baptist those extra chances."
Wayland Baptist (20-4, 14-2) entered the fourth quarter with a 59-51 lead and stretched it out to 66-53 after a Cailyn Breckel bucket with 7 minutes, 25 seconds remaining. The Flying Queens, ranked seventh nationally among NAIA teams, had a 70-58 lead on Payton Brown's bucket at the 5:19 mark, but it turned out to be their final bucket.
John Brown then scored the next 10 points and cut Wayland Baptist's lead to 70-68 on Lawson's 3-pointer with 1:51 remaining. Cameron, however, missed a game-tying shot with under a minute remaining, and the Golden Eagles suffered a turnover before Morgan Bennett hit a free throw to close out the scoring for Wayland Baptist.
"They started hitting some shots, so we went to that zone," Soderquist said. "I think it frustrated them some and they started standing around. It got us going and allowed us to fight back."
Lawson was the only other John Brown player in double figures with 18 points, while Cameron completed a double-double with 10 rebounds. Kambrey Blakey and Brown each had 12 for Wayland Baptist, followed by Kelea Pool with 11 and Morgan Bennett with 10.
Wayland Baptist 71, John Brown 68
Wayland Baptist 22 18 19 12 -- 71
John Brown 16 21 14 17 -- 68
Wayland Baptist (20-4, 14-2): Blakey 12, Brown 12, Pool 11, Bennett 10, Edgemon 9, VanDijk 8, Breckel 5, Merket 4.
John Brown (14-10, 10-7): Cameron 25, Lawson 18, Teague 6, Altman 4, Martin 4, Williams 3, Chandra 3, Nelson 2, Fergen 2, Matamala 1.
John Brown 73, Bacone 36
MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- For the first time in her career, freshman Kayla Nelson led the John Brown University women's basketball team in scoring as 10 different JBU players found the scoresheet in a 73-36 drubbing of Bacone (Okla.) on Tuesday, Feb. 5, inside Palmer Gymnasium.
Shooting 5 of 7 from the floor and grabbing five boards, Nelson posted one of two John Brown double-digit scoring performances, joined by senior Baily Cameron's 10-point effort. The visitors shot over 45 percent in each half and ran the court full length to the tune of 19 assists on 25 made field goals.
The Warriors (0-19, 0-16 Sooner Athletic) struggled to keep up with JBU, but did receive 11 points and five rebounds from Alivia Nelson.
The recipient of 32 Bacone turnovers, the Golden Eagles converted the miscues into 34 points and dominated the paint to the tune of 38-4, forcing the hosts deep into the shot clock and perimeter attempts the entire evening.
The game was tied for 45 seconds until Nelson's triple put JBU ahead for good.
The John Brown bench contributed 38 of the 73 points (52 percent), as freshman Marta Matamala added nine points and junior K.J. Roh and senior Preslea Lawson notched seven points in the JBU effort.
While neither team shot well from behind the arc, John Brown used its speed to run the court, posting 16 fast-break points and limiting Bacone to just three points in transition.
The Golden Eagles improved to 4-2 away from Bill George Arena since the turn of the calendar.
Up next
JBU was scheduled to host Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday at Bill George Arena. Results were not available at presstime. The Golden Eagles are back in action Thursday at Mid-America Christian.
Sports on 02/10/2019