CHICKASHA, Okla. -- Senior Baily Cameron turned in her fifth double-double of the season and the John Brown University women's basketball team turned around a 10-point first-quarter deficit and outscored Science and Arts (Okla.) by a 42-20 margin over the next 20 minutes to run away with a 69-48 win on Thursday (Jan. 10) night inside the Drover Fieldhouse.
Cameron tallied 16 of her game-high 24 points in the first half, while senior Karina Chandra hit 4 of 8 from the floor to score all 13 of her points in the second half as the Golden Eagles (10-5, 6-2 Sooner Athletic) extended their winning streak to three games and improved to 5-4 away from Bill George Arena this season.
For the fifth time this season, John Brown held the opposition below 30 percent from the field. The Drovers (7-8, 2-5) hit just 20 of 69 overall (29 percent) and converted just 4 of 18 (22 percent) from behind the arc, including a 1 of 11 effort in the second half.
Despite hitting only two field goals, and none over the final 7:31 of the quarter, the Golden Eagles faced only an eight-point deficit heading into the second quarter, where the offense would finally pick up.
"I think we were really passive on offense in the first quarter," said head coach Jeff Soderquist. "We weren't in attack mode. We were very passive. In the first quarter we gave up tons of offensive rebounds, which didn't allow us to get out and running on offensive and we weren't attacking.
"From the second quarter on, we didn't give up as many offensive rebounds and we were running transition."
JBU hit three of its first four attempts from the field, including a triple and a layup from Cameron. She would later split at the line with just under seven minutes in the half to cut the USAO lead to four. Finally a triple from Cameron and a buzzer-beating layup from junior Sara Williams pulled John Brown into the lead as the half expired, 29-28.
USAO went scoreless for the final 4:37 of the quarter.
Stemming from shooting 3 of 17 in the third quarter, Science and Arts couldn't stop another big Golden Eagle quarter as Chandra dropped 10 points and Cameron added six in JBU's 21-8 third-frame scoring advantage.
Back-to-back triples by Chandra and junior Ally Teague with under two to play gave John Brown it's largest lead of the contest at 23, 69-46.
USAO's Vivan Holcomb was held to 15 points on 7 of 16 shooting, but still managed her 10th double-double by grabbing 15 boards. Ndeye Khady Sene was the only other Drover to score in double-digits at 10 points.
The Drovers held JBU to just two offensive rebounds and out-scored the visitors 15-0 in second-chance opportunities.
JBU was scheduled to return to action on Saturday against Mid-America Christian (Okla.). Results were not available at presstime.
The Golden Eagles are back in action on Thursday at Panhandle State (Okla.).
Sports on 01/13/2019