Drovers Split Road Games

SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – Led by 20 points and seven assists from Sha’Donna Stewart the University of Science and Arts’ women picked up a 62-51 win at John Brown Saturday night moving them into fifth place in the league standings. The USAO men dropped their second in a row 67-58 despite 16 points from Avery Stevenson.

The women put the squeeze on defensively holding JBU to a horrible 24.6 percent from the field. Up 30-23 at halftime the Drovers were only slowed down by their 23 turnovers. JBU couldn’t threaten the lead, though, only shooting 20 percent in the second half.

Senior Lindsey Monroe hit three 3-pointers to finish with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Nikki Yager scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds while Kartesha Rambo finished with eight points.

With a 13-9 record overall and a 6-6 mark in the Sooner Athletic Conference, Saturday’s game against fourth-place Oklahoma City becomes huge for conference tournament seeding and positioning for an at-large berth into the national tournament. OCU, 18-4 overall and 7-4 in the SAC, is coming off a big 76-62 win over league-leading Lubbock Christian Saturday night.

The Drover men gave up 27 points to JBU’s Cody Page and 20 points to Joel Tesis as USAO lost its second straight game. In the earlier matchup, USAO won by forcing JBU to shoot 3-pointers all night. The Golden Eagles hit 11 of them, but their total field goal percentage hovered around 35 percent.

Saturday’s strategy was similar with JBU shooting 27 3-pointers, but the home team knocked down almost every shot they took in the first half jumping out to a 39-29 halftime lead. JBU finished with eight 3-pointers and a field goal percentage over 45 percent.

With the loss, USAO falls into a tie for eighth place with league-leading and second-ranked Oklahoma City visiting the USAO Fieldhouse Saturday night. The game and festivities, which includes the induction of four new members into the USAO Athletic Hall of Fame, is set to begin at 6 p.m.

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