OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 23-ranked John Brown University Golden Eagles overcame a career game from Mikki Flores and held off the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels 73-69 in a competitive Sooner Athletic Conference battle today (Jan. 28) inside the Gaulke Activity Center.

Flores put in a career-best 30 points, including hitting eight-of-13 from beyond the arc. Her eight threes tied for the third most in a single game in school history.

After a trey from Sarai Rodriguez gave the Lady Evangels their first lead since it was 9-8 in the first period, the Golden Eagles scored 10 straight points to seemingly take command with a 65-56 lead with 5:22 left.

JBU still led 71-63 with 1:16 remaining, but Flores brought MACU back with consecutive threes to make it 71-69 with 37 seconds left.

The Lady Evangels then forced a turnover to gain possession with a chance to tie or win, only to give it right back to the Golden Eagles and Rosa Orpo broke free for a layup as time expired to seal the win for JBU.

Trailing much of the way, the Lady Evangels fought back from an 11-point third quarter deficit as a three by Flores capped a 17-6 run and tied the score at 44-44 at the 3:18 mark of the third quarter.

Flores wound up scoring the Lady Evangels' final 10 points of the period, but the Golden Eagles clung to a 53-51 edge heading into the fourth period.

Flores scored eight points in the first five minutes of the game as the Lady Evangels played JBU even at 12-12.

The Golden Eagles then gained some separation with a 9-1 spurt, but treys from Rodriguez and Flores helped MACU pull within 24-19 at the end of the opening period.

After JBU extended the deficit to 14 by opening the second quarter on an 11-2 push, two straight field goals by Rodriguez and a jumper from Janaya Hines accounted for the final six points of the half and brought the Lady Evangels within 35-27 at the break.

In addition to her game-high 30 points, Flores also had five assists and five rebounds.

Rodriguez scored 18 for MACU (14-7, 5-5 SAC), along with a game-high seven assists.  Tamiyjah Smith and D'Shala Powell also had five boards for the Lady Evangels.

Baily Cameron paced the Golden Eagles (15-6, 7-3 SAC) with a double-double of 28 points and 10 rebounds. Kodee Powell scored 14 and Orpo chipped in with 11.

The Lady Evangels will next play at Texas Wesleyan University next Thursday evening (Feb. 2) at 6 pm in Ft. Worth, Texas.