MARSHALL, Texas – Three players combined for over half of East Texas Baptist University's total points as the Tigers held off Concordia University Texas, 51-45. Kenidi White, Hannah Matthews, and Bridget Upton combined for 34 points. ETBU is now 6-2 on the year and 2-1 in the ASC.
 
"The biggest thing we have been preaching all week is where our effort and communication is at defensively. Every night you can't control shot making or other things but what you can control is your effort, energy, and communication. Ultimately, that was the testament of it today as our offense wasn't pretty but our defense showed up today and that's what led to the win," said head coach Blake Arbogast.
 
White was the leading scorer and rebounder with 14 points and eight rebounds making two three-pointers. One of her three-pointers was key in the fourth period to take back the lead after CTX tied the game. She says, "Our posts do a great job kicking it out to the shooters so I couldn't have done it without them."
 
Matthews and Upton both added 10 points and three rebounds each. Matthews was 5-of-10 from the floor while Upton made 4-of-6 from the free throw line. ETBU finished shooting just 30.8 percent making 36 percent from the arc and 63 percent from the line. They held CTX to just 26.8 percent from the floor, 16 percent from the three-point line, and 78 percent on free throws. ETBU also out rebounded CTX, 43-39, forcing 18 turnovers with six blocks and eight steals.
 
Both offenses had their worse quarter of the game to start off as ETBU shot just 17 percent and CTX 12 percent. It took almost three minutes for ETBU to score their first bucket when Mollie Dittmar laid in a shot off the back board to make it 3-2. A minute and half later (5:47), Matthews earned her first points of the game on a layup to take the 4-3 lead. White then added two free throws twenty seconds later extending the lead to three points, 6-3. Over two minutes later, CTX made just a free throw for their fourth point (3:13) and then cut the lead to one, 6-5, on another free throw with 2:52 left in the quarter. Still only making one shot from the floor, CTX added two more free throws 20 seconds later to take the lead, 76. It was almost four minutes before ETBU found their third bucket of the game when Matthews banked in her fourth point of the game. CTX bounced back with only their second made basket of the quarter to take the lead, 9-8, with 47 seconds left. White finished off the quarter making two free throws as ETBU went in front, 10-9, as the quarter ended.
 
ETBU opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 7-point lead, 16-9. A three-pointer by Brooke Webster and White is what keyed the run. CTX cut the lead to two, 17-15, on a 6-1 run with 4:35 left. Alexis Purcell put ETBU back up by five-points on a three-pointer 20 seconds later and then Upton scored five of the next seven points for a 10-point lead, 27-17 with 1:17 left. CTX did hit a three-pointer with seven seconds left to come within seven points at the half, 27-20. ETBU had their best quarter of the game shooting at 45 percent.
 
Holding CTX to just nine points in the third quarter, ETBU continued to use their defense to lead in the game as the offense only shot 25 percent. Jay Levy hit a three-pointer at the 5:26 mark to put ETBU up by 11 points, 33-22, but CTX went on a 7-1 run over two minutes to pull within five points, 34-29. ETBU had a bucket by Dittmar and a free throw from Upton for an eight-point advantage headed into the fourth quarter, 37-29.
 
CTX didn't go away easily entering the fourth quarter. ETBU moved their lead to eight, 39-31, on a White layup (8:26) but by the 7:19 mark CTX was within three points, 39-36, on a 5-0 run. Webster gave ETBU a four-point lead, 41-37, with 6:28 remaining. That lead only lasted until the 3:06 mark when CTX tied the game at 41. It was then that White hit the biggest shot of the game 22 seconds later from the left arc to put ETBU up by three, 44-41, as ETBU went on an 8-0 run over the next two and half minutes. Alexis Purcell swooshed a free throw with 41 seconds left for the 49-41 lead. CTX didn't give up bringing the Tiger lead down to four points, 49-45, with six seconds left but Michaela James made two free throws to end the game, 51-45.
 
ETBU will now host #10 Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Ornelas Gym.