MARSHALL, Texas – Coming away with two wins last week against the University of Texas Tyler and University of Ozarks, the #14/15 ast Texas Baptist University women's basketball team will return home for two games at Ornelas Gymnasium this week. ETBU will take on both UO and UTT again.
Last week, the Tigers earned their first victory against Texas Tyler in nine seasons, 72-64, in Tyler.
Kim Childress (15 points),
Kendrick Clark (11 points),
Sydney Saxton (11 points), and
Amanda Wilson (10 points) each reached double-figures in scoring to lead the Tigers. Then on Saturday, ETBU took down UO 69-56 with Childress once again leading ETBU with 18 points while Wilson tallied 14.
ETBU (17-2) remains tied for first at 9-2 in the ASC East Division with the University of Texas Dallas. Averaging 73.7 points per game and holding opponents to 53.1 ppg, ETBU has two players scoring in double-figures as Clark (14.6 ppg) and Childress (10.4 ppg) lead the way. Wilson is averaging 4.9 rebounds per game and leads the team with 22 blocked shots while Saxton collects 79 assists on the season.
ETBU now focuses on the same two teams from last week. Only this time, it's the Eagles of UO first before the Patriots of UTT. With the loss to ETBU, UO (11-9, 7-4) is averaging 64.7 ppg now as Hailey Ostrander remains the team leader with 14.0 ppg. Delanei Stephens (12.4 ppg) remains on top of UO's rebounding (7.2 rpg) and blocks (14) categories while Savannah Kate Smith has 55 assists to lead the team.
On Saturday, UTT (11-8) defeated LeTourneau University, 61-44, improving their scoring average to 67.1 ppg. Carissa Spiker (14.5 ppg) and Bianca Valderrama (11.7 pg) continue to lead the Patriots in scoring while Samantha Odom leads the team with 6.2 rpg.
With a quick turnaround to play the same teams again, head coach
Rusty Rainbolt recognizes a positive outlook on the situation at hand. "I think it probably helps both programs," said Coach Rainbolt. "Everybody plays the same two teams again. It's not an easier week as far as preparation as you don't have to start from scratch in the scouting report. So what you do is go back and fine tune everything and watch everything that happened in game one to try and make adjustments. It kind of has a little bit of an NBA feel. In a seven-game series or a five-game series, they get to watch the game, turn around and make adjustments. We get to do that too. We'll work hard on that. We have a lot of things to get fired up for the Ozarks and Tyler as well."
ETBU's week starts on Thursday at 5:30 PM with UO and ends with UTT on Saturday at 1:00 P.M. in Ornelas Gym.
