MARSHALL, Texas – Holding the opposition to zero first quarter points, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team managed a 55-38 victory over Schreiner University on Day two of the American Southwest Conference/Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Crossover. This marks the second season in a row and third time in four years that the Tigers started their campaign 4-0.

While none of the Tigers would reach double-digits in scoring, Valerie Matlock finished as the leader with nine points on three-of-four shooting while collecting four steals and finishing tied alongside Taylor Singleton with three assists. Sydney Saxton scored eight points while both Kendrick Clark and Karley McHenry tallied seven points. Anna Moss grabbed a team-high six rebounds for the Tigers. On SU's side, Sydney Williams finished as the top scorer for both teams with 10 points. Kayla Alvarado finished with nine rebounds while Kendall Dyal dished out four assists.

Collectively, ETBU would outshoot SU from the field (33.9%-23.9%) and outscoring them from the paint (22-10). The bench also contributed by winning the scoring battle 27-12. Turnovers would also play to ETBU's advantage as they would score 29 points off turnovers while SU finished with eight. ETBU forced 27 turnovers overall.

The first quarter was all Tigers as they would score twenty points. Clark would start the scoring with a jumper at 8:55. Following a layup by Mallory Stephens (7:03), ETBU would start to catch fire in the second half of the quarter. McHenry (6:00, 4:19) would put five points on the board in the quarter while Kayla Bise tallied four points (4:28, 3:45) which included a three-pointer. Also tallying four points was Saxton, who had a pair of free throws (2:28) and a jumper (0:48). Marissa Warren would find herself on the scoresheet with a jumper in the paint (1:28) before Clark finished the scoring with a layup (0:12). SU would attempt 10 shots all quarter, but wouldn't convert any of them as the Tigers led 20-0 after one quarter.

SU would finally get on the board with a pair of free throws (9:53) to start the second quarter. But it wouldn't be until 7:44 left in the quarter when they would hit their first field goal with a three-pointer to trail 22-5. ETBU increased the lead to 25-5 after free throws from Matlock (7:11) and Matthews (5:06, 4:35) before the Mountaineers answered with two jumpers and free throws for six straight points (4:09-2:36) trailing 25-11. Hanna Hudson (1:18) stopped the SU run with a three pointer to lead 28-11. By halftime, SU had scored four of the final six points to make it a 30-15 lead at the break.

Matlock (9:49, 7:38) and Singleton (8:59) would kick start the scoring for ETBU in the second half to lead by their largest margin at 21 points (36-15). SU free throws (6:54) reduced the lead to 19 before Matthews put in a jumper that saw the score to 38-17 (6:22). The Mountaineers surged to within sixteen points at 39-23 (1:32). But it would be Saxton who scored three of her four third quarter points with a free throw (1:13) and a layup (0:41) which saw ETBU up 42-23. SU would take the last points of the quarter to trail 42-25 after three.
 
Five unanswered points for the Tigers (10:00-8:10) was keyed by free throws from Matlock (9:08), Singleton (8:39) and a layup from Erin Meeks (8:10). The lead was trimmed to twenty after a SU jumper (7:27) only for both Clark (6:11) and McHenry (5:16) to convert three-point plays as the lead grew to 53-27. SU would put together a small run of six unanswered points (4:07-3:16) to bring the score to 53-33. Paige Royal (0:58) came in and would sink a two-point jumper, which gave ETBU their last twenty-point lead of the game. Yet, SU would manage a three-pointer (0:50) and free throws (0:11) to fall by seventeen points at 55-38.  

ETBU will fly out to Colorado Springs, Colo., for two Thanksgiving break games next week. Their first game will be against Johnson & Wales University at 12:00 PM on Friday.