Box Score MARHSALL, Texas – Going on an 11-5 run over three minute time span in the fourth quarter after the game was tied at 51, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball held on for their eighth win of the year, 68-60, over Rust College (1-8). ETBU was tied at 51 with 7:43 to go and with the run took a 62-56 lead as they improved to 6-0 at home and 8-2 overall.
“It's good to get a win heading into Christmas break,” said Coach Edsel Hamilton. “We have a really long break before our next game. I really stressed to the girls today to give me all you got. You have plenty of time to get rested up and we really cranked the intensity up in the fourth quarter and were able to pull it out.”
ETBU had three players scoring in double figures as Taylee Alexander led her team with 17 points and eight rebounds. April Leonard finished with 15 points, five rebounds, five steals, and three assists while Morgan Garrett had 12 points, all of them on three pointers.
Garrett talked about her performance in helping the team win. “I think most of that was just my teammates finding me when I'm open. I just did the same thing, ran the offense, found the open places and my teammates got the ball to me and I think a big thing was get it inside to our post and they did a great job of kicking it back out.”
Other contributions came from Cekret Davis who handed out six assists, six steals, and seven rebounds while Delia Hopkins had five rebounds. For Rust College, Jasmine Golden led the team with 22 points.
In the first quarter, ETBU outscored Rust 18-9. ETBU jumped out to huge leads of 7-2 and 12-4. Rust college got to within 12-8 mark with 2:36 to play in the quarter before baskets by Leonard and Taylee Alexander gave ETBU a 6-1 run to finish the Alexander scored six points in the first quarter while Garrett and Davis also had points in the quarter.
The second quarter saw ETBU increase their lead to 22-11 on lay-ups by Alexander. After Rust came to within 22-16, ETBU applied four more points to extend the lead back to double digits. For the rest of the quarter, Rust College would battle their way back to finish on an 11-7 run. ETBU led by five before a pair of Leonard free-throws followed by a Garrett three-pointer to make it a ten point lead. Rust would cut the deficit to 33-27 by the end of the first half.
Both teams scored 16 points in the third quarter. Rust was able to get within 36-33 before a pair of Lauren Lee's free throws prevented Rust from getting closer. ETBU would march to eight to ten point leads on a three pointer by Tevaria Council and a layup by Lee. At that point, it was 47-37 with 2:26 to play. Rust would close the quarter on a 6-2 run trailing 49-43.
ETBU managed to win the fourth quarter by outscoring Rust 19-17. Rust would start the quarter strong by tying the game at 51 with 7:34 to play. But a Cekret Davis lay-up plus two three-pointers by Garrett and one by Leonard gave ETBU a 62-56 lead at 4:29 to play. Rust would cut the lead to 62-58 before layups by Davis and Alexander sealed the deal.
“We try to battle hard,” said Taylee Alexander. “We just really try to listen to what coach says and execute our plays. I think that we came out in the second half and picked our intensity up and I think that really helped us in the second half.”
As a group, ETBU outshot Rust 40 percent to 36 percent from the field, 25 percent to 21 percent from behind the arc and 57 percent to 54 percent from the free-throw line. ETBU also won the rebounding battle by one 37-36 and dished out 20 assists to Rust's nine.
ETBU will return for the first game of the 2016 year on Saturday January 2nd at 1:00 p.m. when they host Concordia (Texas).
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