SILOAM SPRINGS -- Southwestern Assemblies of God swished its way to a 78-67 victory against John Brown University in women's college basketball action inside Bill George Arena on Thursday.
The Lions (13-12, 8-9 Sooner Athletic Conference) were 18 of 37 from 3-point range with McKenzie Martin and Lexi Rich combining for 13 made 3-pointers.
Women
Southwestern^18^29^18^13^—^78
John Brown^17^8^26^16^—^67
Southwestern (13-12, 8-9): Martin 24, Rich 19, Glenn 15, Meador 8, Colbert 7, Wells 3, Diggles 2.
John Brown (16-10, 10-7): Cameron 32, Schammel 15, Dienes 7, Orpo 6. Fergen 2, Reece 2, Teague 2, Williams 1.
Men
Southwestern^34^43^—^77
John Brown^36^35^—^71
Southwestern (19-8, 11-6): Petillo 22, Swearinger 18, Sims 9, Medder 6, Hill 6, Farmer 5, Mitchell 4, Tipton 3, Davis 2, Kashila 2.
John Brown (15-11, 9-8): Bowling 23, Carnes 14, Caudle 13, Grabliauskas 8, Habazin 8, Smith 5.
JBU (16-10, 10-7) opened with a 10-2 lead before SAGU broke the seal with its first 3-pointer by Rich midway through the first quarter. The Lions went on to hit 9 of their first 13 shots from 3-point range and finished the first half 11 of 20 to take a commanding 47-25 lead into the locker room.
SAGU entered the game second in the league behind JBU in 3-point shooting percentage.
"We wanted to come out and kinda set the tone and let them know that, 'Hey, we can shoot it, too.'" said SAGU coach Tiffany Phillips. "I told them at halftime I don't think we'll shoot 55 percent again and we didn't, but it was good to do that in the first half to get the lead like that."
The Golden Eagles defeated SAGU 55-41 in Waxahachie, Texas, on Jan. 13. They did it by limiting the Lions to 6 of 22 shooting from beyond the arc. Thursday's rematch was a complete turnaround led by Martin, who tied a season-high with eight 3-pointers to lead her squad with 24 points.
"I told our team that's what other teams feel like when they play us," said JBU coach Jeff Soderquist. "I don't know if we could have kept up with their pace, but if we could have stayed a little closer in the second quarter, we could have made a difference where it wasn't such a big deficit at halftime."
John Brown managed to trim the deficit to single digits (71-62) with a 15-3 run that was capped off by a 3-pointer by Jana Schammel with two minutes, 57 seconds remaining in regulation. However, the Golden Eagles missed a few key shots and the Lions sank 7 of 8 free throws to secure the victory.
"Give them credit, they hit shots and we're able to hit some key shots to hang on there in the second half when we were making our runs at them," Soderquist said. "And we missed a couple of key shots, but I think we got tired trying to come back from such a big deficit. That's a lot of work."
Siloam Springs native Baily Cameron, fresh off a 30-point game on Tuesday, scored 15 of JBU's first 17 points and led all scorers with 32 points.
Men
Southwestern Assemblies of God 77, John Brown 71
The Lions (19-8, 11-6) pulled away down the stretch and held on for a six-point victory. It was SAGU's largest lead in a game featured 14 ties and nine lead changes.
A 3-pointer by Joshua Swearinger followed a bucket by Jalen Petillo with 52 seconds remaining gave SAGU the separation it needed. The duo combined for 40 points with Swearinger scoring 18 of his team's 31 points off the bench.
John Brown (15-11, 9-8) was lead by Josh Bowling with 23 points. He hit a 3-pointer and blocked Desmond Medder's shot at the buzzer to help the Golden Eagles secure a 36-34 halftime lead.
Densier Carnes and Jake Caudle contributed 14 points and 13 points, respectively, for JBU.
Sports on 02/16/2018