BELTON, Texas – In the first round of the American Southwest Conference Tournament, the #16 East Texas Baptist University faced  a tough Howard Payne University but in the end the Tigers survived a late scare 45-43. Sydney Saxton drove in for the game winning shot with six seconds left in the game to secure the lead.
 
Saxton led ETBU with 11 points while she and Erin Meeks shared the rebounding lead with seven each. Valarie Matlock dished out nine assists for ETBU. HPU had Payge Grable score 13 points while Chelsey Harris (four assists) and Caprica Brooks notched 10 points between them. Anastasia Willis grabbed nine rebounds for HPU.
 
Although it was an off-shooting night for both teams, ETBU managed to outshoot HPU 33.3%-23.8% from the floor. The Tigers did outrebound HPU 52-39 and were contributive with the scoring from their bench with 21 points.
 
The Tigers started the first quarter with seven straight points (10:00-7:36) with Childress (9:35), Matlock (8:48), and Wilson (7:36) scoring for an early 7-0 lead. HPU would respond with eight of the next 10 points (7:19-3:27) to trail by one at 9-8. Free throws (3:18) and a jumper by Meeks (1:52) and three points from Saxton (1:19-0:41) would finish the quarter for the Tigers with a 6-2 surge to lead 16-10 after one period.
 
The second quarter would be hard-fought defensively with ETBU clinging to a 26-21 lead. Wilson would tally four points (9:41, 7:50) while Kendrick Clark would get her first points at 8:29. HPU would cut the deficit to five points on a three (6:23) to trail 22-17. Nearly four minutes without any baskets, Childress ended the drought (2:58) to make it 24-17. Following a Yellow Jacket two (2:10), ETBU received a big block from Wilson, which led to an open layup from Matlock (1:35) making it 26-19. HPU would cut the lead back to five with fourteen seconds left before the break.
 
In the third quarter, HPU would cut into the deficit to 27-24 (7:16) before a jumper by Meeks (6:43) extended the margin to 29-24. The Yellow Jackets would then continue to battle back to within one score as they brought the game to 31-28 (2:21), 33-30 (1:40), and 35-32 (1:04). Fortunately, Wilson would respond with four points (1:55, 1:23) while Taylor Singleton gave ETBU a 37-32 lead after three quarters.
 
Saxton would start off the fourth quarter with four straight points (9:35-9:05) to push the score to 41-32. Five straight HPU points brought the score down to 41-37 before Meeks extended the game to 43-37 with 3:17 left to play. Yet, the Tigers would go cold for the final minutes as HPU would slowly tie the game at 43-43 with thirty-six seconds to play. After a timeout called, the Tigers would run the play for Saxton, who would knock down the shot off the backboard with six seconds to spare. HPU had one chance to steal the game, but ETBU would force a turnover to preserve the win.
 
ETBU will now face #9 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor at 7:30 PM on Friday night in the semi-final round.