Drovers Roll Over JBU

CHICKASHA – In maybe the most entertaining night of basketball of the year, Monday’s “whiteout” crowd watched the USAO men and women collect solid wins against John Brown to stay in the conference race.

Leading the team in scoring for the 12th time this season, senior Nikki Yager scored 18 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for her sixth career double-double in USAO’s 74-62 win. Yager, the nation’s leader in field goal percentage again was nearly perfect hitting 8-of-10 from the floor and both free throw attempts.

The Drovers found themselves down by as many as nine points in the first half, but the women took control in the second half to improve to 12-8 overall and 5-5 in the SAC. USAO moves into fifth place in the league just a half game behind Oklahoma City.

Lindsey Monroe pumped in four 3-pointers to jumpstart the USAO rally, and she finished with 16 points. Sha’Donna Stewart added five assists and four steals to her 11-point, seven-rebound performance, and Kartesha Rambo and Sasha Ferguson posted nine points each. Lamitra Daggs led the team with six assists.

Led my 25 points from senior Avery Stevenson, the USAO men withstood a heavy dose of 3-pointers to claim a 70-62 win in Monday’s nightcap. Stevenson had the shooting performance of his career hitting all five 3-point attempts and all six attempts from the free throw line. He also added five assists as USAO outscored JBU 14-2 on fast break points.

While 11 of JBU’s 22 field goals came from 3-point land, the USAO zone defense won the war forcing the Golden Eagles to hit only 35.5 percent from the floor. The Drovers controlled the boards and the tempo holding JBU to its fourth worst scoring total of the season.

Thomas Woods finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and one of the nastiest dunks of the season which came early in the game and set the tone for Drovers the rest of the night. USAO improves to 4-13 overall and 4-6 in the SAC. In seventh place today, the Drovers are only a half game behind Oklahoma Christian and Northwestern Oklahoma. Oklahoma Baptist sits in fourth place but has played two fewer games.

Both teams host Southern Nazarene Thursday night beginning at 6 p.m. The SNU women sit in third place in the league at 6-2 while the SNU men are in second with a 7-1 record.

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