The John Brown women's basketball team's historic season added a new and improbable chapter Saturday night.
The No. 19 Golden Eagles overcame an 18-point second half deficit and rallied to beat Loyola (La.) 65-63 in the Exclusive Eight of the NAIA Division I Women's National Tournament at the Frankfort (Ky.) Convention Center.
Sophomore Brooke Barker hit her only field goal of the game -- a 3-pointer with 8.8 seconds left -- to put JBU (28-7) ahead for the first time since the 7 minute, 43 second mark of the first half.
The Golden Eagles then held on for one more defensive possession as Loyola's Janeica Neely drove to the basket but her potential game-tying shot missed as time expired.
JBU, which had not won a national tournament game in the program's history, now has won three straight and will face Sooner Athletic Conference foe Oklahoma City (25-4) in the Fab Four at 5 p.m. today.
"We're very proud to be here, very proud to represent John Brown University," said JBU coach Jeff Soderquist. "We don't care who we have to play next, we're just happy to be here. It's great to be involved in a national semifinal game, and with Oklahoma City's storied tradition of success at the tournament, I think it's great that the Sooner Athletic Conference has two teams among the final four."
It will be the third meeting this season between the No. 5 Stars and Golden Eagles. Oklahoma City, which is making its 12th appearance in the national semifinals, won both games in the regular season but lost to JBU 66-62 in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament, in what was JBU's first win against the Stars dating back to Feb. 17, 2001.
Oklahoma City reached the semifinals by defeating Campbellsville (Ky.) 79-76 on Saturday.
The other Fab Four game will pit Wiley (Texas) against the last remaining No. 1 seed Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) at 7 p.m. The winners of the Fab Four game advance to Tuesday's national championship game, which will be at 5:30 p.m. and broadcast on ESPN3.
JBU's prospects of reaching the semifinals seemed bleak midway through the second half when Loyola pulled ahead 60-42 with 7:51 remaining.
Instead, JBU went on a 23-3 run to close the game, chipping away at the Wolf Pack's lead.
Sierra Shipley finished the contest with 18 points.
Sports on 03/24/2014