AUSTIN, Texas – A 12-2 run by Concordia University Texas gave them the lead as they held off East Texas Baptist University, 56-51, in American Southwest Conference women's basketball action. ETBU is now 2-7 and 1-2 in the ASC.
 
Kadia Ward recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds going a 6-for-6 from the line. Payton Hicks led the team with 15 points and four steals while Tristan Smith added 12 points and seven rebounds. CTX's Mikayla Johnson led with 15 points.
 
ETBU shot 33 percent from the floor going 3-of-15 from the three-point line (20 percent) while making 60 percent from the line (12-of-20). CTX finished at 43 percent shooting, 57 percent from the arc (8-of-14), and 83 percent on the line (10-of-12). ETBU won the rebounding battle, 39-28, but had 19 turnovers. ETBU did force 20 turnovers which led to 20 points.
 
The game shifted in the third quarter after ETBU was up, 24-20, at the half. Ashlynn Galvin made a layup at the 5:36 mark for a five-point lead, 30-25, as that was ETBU's largest lead of the quarter. CTX responded over the next four minutes with a 12-2 run for a five-point lead, 37-32, with 1:39 left. CTX kept the five-point lead at the end of the quarter, 41-36.
 
CTX built an eight-point lead, 48-40, with 7:05 left in the game to start the fourth quarter. ETBU slowly battled back to cut the lead to two, 50-48, by the 2:52 mark on a Smith layup. With a chance to tie the game up after a CTX turnover, ETBU turned the ball back over which led to a Tornado layup and a four-point lead, 52-48. Hicks converted an and-1 situation to pull ETBU within one, 52-51, with 56 seconds left to play. In the next 40 seconds, ETBU fouled three times as CTX went to the line with 16 seconds left making both shots, 54-51. ETBU tried to tie the game with a three-pointer at the 12-second mark but missed as CTX grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Two more free throws made it, 56-51, as CTX held onto the win.
 
The first half brought a tight match up but ETBU held onto the lead. It started with a 15-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. ETBU made two of their three three-pointers in the game in the first quarter and had an 11-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game. In the final five minutes, CTX outscored ETBU, 13-4, to pull within two.
 
It was a defensive second quarter as ETBU out scored CTX, 9-7, for a four-point lead, 24-20. CTX made a three-pointer at the 7:05 mark to bring ETBU's lead to three, 19-16, but then neither team scored for the next four minutes. Ward made two free throws with 3:09 left to extend the lead to five, 21-16. CTX scored the next four points to come within one, 21-20. In the last two minutes, Hicks was 3-of-4 from the line as ETBU took the four-point lead at the half.
 
ETBU will face Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday in Belton, Texas, at 1:00 p.m.