MARSHALL, Texas - Tied at 23 with five minutes to go in the second quarter, the #15 East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team would finish on a 13-2 run to halftime and never look back in a convincing 31-point win over McMurry University, 79-48. ETBU is now 11-1 overall and 5-1 in American Southwest Conference East Division play.

Kendrick Clark was ETBU's top scorer with 21 points while Tatyana Lacey added a career-high 12 points for the night. Sydney Saxton contributed on both sides of the ball with eight assists and 10 rebounds to lead the Tigers. London Weilert had 15 points for McMurry.

ETBU made 51.7% of their shots from the floor including 47.8% from downtown as they tallied 11-of-23 total three pointers. The Tigers also managed to win the rebounding battle at 33-30, dish out 26 assists to McM's nine and won multiple scoring categories ranging from fast break points (22-6), points off turnovers (22-11), and points in the paint (28-14).

ETBU started off with a flourish as a Clark layup (9:00) and a Taylor Singleton three (8:36) put the Tigers up 5-0. Kim Childress would then answer a three from McM (7:39) with one of her own nine seconds later for an 8-3 lead. The War Hawks would manage to work their way back to level the score at 10-10 (3:45). The final portion of the quarter saw ETBU score seven straight points with buckets from April Matthews (3:45) and Amanda Wilson (1:13) plus a Clark three (0:45) pushing the score to 17-10. McM did get the deficit to 17-12 by the end of the first quarter.

As the second quarter started, ETBU extended the lead to 21-14 (10:00-9:19) as Clark tallied her second three of the game (9:49). Once again, the War Hawks would answer back with a 9-2 run (8:42-5:18) to even the score at 23. However, the War Hawks would never lead in this game as a three from Kayla Bise (4:57) brought ETBU up for good. It would also kick start a 13-2 run to end the first half up 36-25. Childress and Lacey combined for 10 points in the final four minutes.

The Tigers continued their hot stretch into the third quarter with a 14-2 run (10:00-4:51) for a 50-27 margin. Clark was responsible for half of the points in the stretch (9:35, 9:05, 7:04) while Singleton (8:13), Valerie Matlock (7:42), and Lacey (4:51) picked up the other seven points. McM did take control for a period in the third as they were able to cut the score down to 52-35 thanks to an 8-2 (4:34-0:11) surge.  But Sydney Saxton would pick up a three-point play (0:03) as ETBU ended the third quarter up 55-35.

The Tigers never let off the gas pedal in the fourth quarter as they would extend their margin to 65-37 with a 10-2 run (10:00-6:59) with Wilson scoring four points (7:29, 6:59) while Clark added back-to-back three's (6:31, 5:56). Another strong contribution came from Hanna Hudson, who fired back-to-back three's (4:45, 4:13), to see ETBU at their largest lead of 33 points (71-38). The War Hawks could only bring the game as close as 74-46 (2:14) before the Tigers finished the game on a 5-2 run for the final of 79-48.

ETBU resumes their home stand this Saturday with a 1:00 PM tipoff against Hardin-Simmons University.