MARSHALL, Texas – Holding their opponents to under ten points in two of the four quarters, the #15 East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team secured another home victory defeating Hardin-Simmons University 62-47. ETBU is now 12-1 and 6-1 in the ASC East.
 
Amanda Wilson led the Tigers with a double-double at 13 points and 13 rebounds. Kendrick Clark and Valerie Matlock had 12 and 10 points respectively while Sydney Saxton led the way with five assists. Erin Meeks grabbed a team-high seven rebounds with Taylor Singleton adding six. Keilee Burke and Samantha Newton led HSU with eight points apiece.
 
While ETBU outshot HSU 43.6%-31.0% from the field, HSU did make 26.3% from downtown to ETBU's 25%. ETBU also scored more points in the paint (40-18), points off turnovers (21-15), and bench points (23-15). They also out rebounded HSU, 45-36, and dished out 11 of the game's 18 assists.
 
Wilson kicked off ETBU's scoring with a pair of layups (9:44-8:52) while Matlock put in the sixth point for the Tigers (7:57). HSU would get as close as 8-5 (4:46) before Meeks pushed the score 10-5 with a pair of free throws (4:28). ETBU finished with three points with a layup from Anna Moss (3:43) and a free throw from Saxton (3:05). The score stayed that way before an HSU free throw with thirty seconds in the quarter made it 13-6 after one.
 
Just like the first quarter, Wilson tallied four straight points on layups (9:44-8:10) while Clark's free throws extended the margin to 19-6. HSU would get the score to as close as 21-15 (5:00). The Tigers took off halfway through the quarter as they finished with a 12-2 the rest of the way to lead 33-17 at the break. In the stretch, Matlock started the run with back-to-back buckets (4:10, 3:48) while Clark added five (2:51, 0:01). Tatyana Lacey would also tack on a jumper (1:59) to get on the board.
 
HSU started the second half with four straight points to trail 33-21 (8:01). But the Tigers would control the tempo of game by then as they held HSU to five more points for the remainder of the quarter while scoring twenty of their own. April Matthews would push ETBU's lead to sixteen (39-23) at 5:57, which started a 14-0 run as Matthews would get three more points (2:33) while Erin Meeks picked up layups (4:26, 3:37) to see ETBU up 51-23. HSU's response was just a three-point play (1:56), which was answered by a layup from Matthews (1:42) as the Tigers took a 53-26 lead going to the fourth.
 
The fourth quarter would see HSU outscore ETBU 21-9 starting with seven straight points (10:00-7:05) before Clark ended the run with a three (7:00). Wilson's layup at 5:42 made the score 60-36. But that led to nine straight points from HSU (5:22-3:15) to trail 60-45. This would be the closest they would get as Matlock would put in the final points for ETBU at 1:46. HSU would get a buzzer-beater as the final score read 62-47.
 
ETBU heads on the road to Richardson, Texas, for an ASC East matchup against the Comets of the University of Texas Dallas on Thursday, January 10. The game starts at 5:30 PM.