LONGVIEW, Texas – After a cold first half, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team warmed up in the second half as they ran away with the game over LeTourneau University, 65-48. ETBU is tied for first in the American Southwest Conference East Division with a 13-2 record and now are 22-2 overall.
Kendrick Clark was the only Tiger to reach double-figures for the night as she scored a game-high 23 points making 61.5% of her shots, which included five threes.
Amanda Wilson posted seven rebounds while both
Kim Childress and
Taylor Singleton dished out three assists. LETU was led by Alexandria Thorne, who tallied 17 points while Chantel Acosta (eight rebounds) and Keauna Whitfield (three assists) finished with 11 and 10 points respectively.
Despite shooting 18% in the first quarter, the Tigers managed to outshoot the Yellow Jackets 40.3%-38.3% from the field, which included a 43.5%-20% advantage from downtown. The Tigers also finished outrebounding LETU 38-28 and dished out 10 assists to LETU's five. Of the points scored, the Tigers outscored LETU's bench 19-3 and won the fast break point category 17-13.
The first part of the first quarter was low scoring as both teams struggled to get good shots before LETU took a 6-2 lead (4:48). Clark's three (3:03) cut the deficit to 6-5 before LETU answered with four straight points (2:31-1:45) to bring the lead back to 10-5. Clark finished scoring all eight ETBU's first quarter points with another three (0:48) as LETU led 10-8 through one.
In the second quarter, Lacey (9:54) and Clark (9:38) grabbed the Tigers' first lead of the contest at 12-10 with four straight points. LETU answered with an 11-4 run (9:30-5:32) to grab the lead back at 21-16. Still down by five, ETBU managed to create an 11-2 run (4:05-0:50), which included three's from Singleton (3:41), and Childress (1:36, 0:50) that propelled the Tigers to 29-25 edge. A buzzer-beater by Clark would keep the Tigers up by four at 31-27 heading into the break.
ETBU carried the momentum early on in the third quarter as Clark (8:49) and Wilson (7:38) stretched their lead to 35-27. After a pair of Yellow Jacket free throws (7:23), the Tigers used another Clark three (6:32) and a pair of Wilson buckets (4:54-4:20) to extend the margin to double digits for the first time at 42-29. LETU would finish the rest of the quarter with eight of the final 12 points to cut ETBU's lead down to 46-37 after three quarters.
The Tigers kept up their offensive approach in the fourth quarter as they piled up a 9-1 run (10:00-6:43) to grab the double-digit lead. This would include a pair of three-point plays from Valerie Matlock (7:02) and Saxton (6:42) to lead 55-38 before
April Matthews connected on a three brought ETBU up twenty-one points at 61-40 (4:16). When all was said and done, the Tigers finished the job with a 65-48 win.
ETBU will now host the University of Texas Dallas this Saturday at 1:00 PM. It will not only be Senior Day for four members of the squad but it will also decide of who wins the ASC East Division championship.
