FRANKFORT, Ky. - The John Brown women’s basketball team, which rallied from 18 points down Saturday to reach Monday’s NAIA Division I national semifinal, nearly turned in a repeat performance against Oklahoma City.
The Golden Eagles cut a 12-point deficit to two with 2:21 to play, but John Brown never could draw even or get by Oklahoma City, falling 67-65 to come up one game short of reaching the national championship game.
Sierra Shipley’s layup attempt in the final seconds was too strong for John Brown (28-8) atthe Frankfort Convention Center.
John Brown trailed by 14 points in the second half.
“The whole night I just kept telling them, ‘Iif we were going to come back, we had to get stops,’ ” John Brown Coach Jeff Soderquist said. “I wasn’t worried about our offense. If we were going to come back, we had to get stops, and we started getting stops. That was the key.”
Two free throws by Shipley, who led John Brown with 23 points, cut the lead to 67-65, but neither team would score again.
John Brown had the ball with 21 seconds remaining and a chance to tie or win.
Shipley, a senior from Fayetteville, had possession of the ball with less than 10 seconds remaining at the top of the key,dribbled left and cut to the basket. Her left-handed attempt was too strong off the backboard and Oklahoma City’s Yvonte Neal rebounded as time expired.
Oklahoma City (26-4) outrebounded John Brown 43-23, including a 20-4 edge in offensive rebounds. The Stars had 22 second-chance points to John Brown’s 4.
John Brown led by as many as nine points in the first half, but Oklahoma City outscored John Brown 13-5 to end the half and the Stars used a 9-0 run to start the second half to go up 47-37.
Senior Kortni Barenberg had 17 points for John Brown and junior Lauren Rogers added 12 points.
Oklahoma City will face Freed-Hardeman for the NAIA national title today at 5:30 p.m.
Sports, Pages 19 on 03/25/2014