MARSHALL, Texas – Opening up the third quarter on a 10-0 run, East Texas Baptist University handled Birmingham Southern College, 74-52, to finish out the 2023 portion of their schedule. ETBU is now 4-8 on the year.
 
Kadia Ward posted a career-high 15 points adding four rebounds and three steals with two assists as she shot 7-of-11 from the floor. Payton Hicks then added 12 points while Tristan Smith gave nine points and five rebounds. Hannah Ayala led the team with eight rebounds.
 
Finishing shooting 46 percent, ETBU had two quarters in which they shot over 60 percent from the floor. They made 33 percent of their three-pointers and 76 percent of their free throws. BSC shot just 35 percent from the floor, 22 percent from the arc, and 42 percent from the line. ETBU won the rebounding game, 41-28, and forced 29 turnovers for 34 points and also scored 46 points in the paint.
 
It was a close first quarter as the two teams were tied at six just over six four minutes into the game. ETBU went on an 8-2 run for a six-point lead, 14-8, as Hicks scored on a fast break layup (3:09). BSC brought the lead down to one, 14-13, but ETBU ended the final two minutes on a 7-0 run for a 21-13 lead. Ward, Smith, and Lexi Purcell all scored in the run as ETBU shot 69 percent in the quarter.
 
BSC made their move in the second quarter pulling to within one, 21-20, with 4:56 to go. Neither team found the basket for the first three minutes of the quarter as BSC started with a 7-0 run. BSC was within two, 25-23, with 2:52 left in the half when ETBU once again finished on a run, 9-0, for an 11-point lead, 34-23, at the half. Smith, Tiffany Bickford, Ward, and Ayala added buckets in the run for the double-digit lead at the half.
 
ETBU scored 29 points in the third quarter shooting 64 percent as they ran away with the game. Ward started the new quarter scoring seven straight points to make it an 18-point lead, 41-23. She hit a three-pointer and then had back-to-back steals for four points scoring seven overall points in 45 seconds. At 7:32, Hicks canned a three-pointer for a 21-point lead, 44-23, and at the 3:42 mark Jayla Hall gave the Tigers a 28-point lead, 58-30. Michaela James made it a 29-point lead, 63-24 with 17 seconds left before BSC made one free throw with nine seconds left as ETBU finished the quarter lead, 63-35.
 
Bickford canned a three-pointer at the 8:27 mark for a 31-point lead, 68-37, and then Hall gave ETBU their largest lead of 32, 70-38, on a jumper with 7:45 left in the game. By the 3:02 mark, BSC brought the lead down to 20, 70-50, but Carson Greenwood made the final basket of the game at 1:19 for the 22-point win, 74-52.
 
ETBU will be off until they host Sul Ross State University on January 4 at 5:30 p.m.