MARSHALL, Texas - Finishing their home schedule winning their sixth straight game, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team defeated Howard Payne University, 74-49, on Senior Day. ETBU is now 18-5 overall and 12-4 in the American Southwest Conference in second place. ETBU honored five players on Senior Day in Brooke Webster, Kenidi White, Jay Levy, Michaela James, Mollie Dittmar, and Faith Hudson, as well as two managers, Maegan Thomas and Courtney Meyers. 
 
Leading the Tigers was with 15 points and nine rebounds was Jade Goynes. White also recorded 15 points, followed with seven rebounds and two steals. Webster recorded 12 points, and with led the team alongside Dittmar with three assists. ETBU shot 42% from the floor and 44% beyond the arc. HPU finished shooting 33% overall shooting just eight percent from the arc making one three-pointer.
 
Webster was the first to put points on the board with a layup at 9:42, 2-0. HPU followed tying the score at two. Shots by Webster and Levy gave ETBU a five-point lead, 7-2. Dittmar kept the lead with a jumper in the paint at 6:26, 9-4. HPU had a three that lowered the Tiger lead to two, 9-7. Goynes ended the quarter with two shots on the line, 13-9, for the four-point lead. 
 
The Yellowjackets began the second quarter cutting the lead to two on a layup at 8:45, 13-11. ETBU went on a two-minute run putting up 10 points with shots from Goynes and Hall, 23-11. White brought a shot from outside the arc at 4:18 to make it, 29-15. Hannah Matthews followed with a second chance layup at 2:02, moving the lead to 17 points, 32-15. The half ended 31-17 in favor of the Tigers. 
 
White began the second half with a jumper in the paint at 9:23, 33-19. The Yellowjackets took two shots on the line followed by a jump shot at 8:04, lowering the Tiger lead to 11, 34-23. White quickly brought the lead back to 13 with a shot in the paint, 36-23. Nearly three minutes passed before there was another change to the score, but two free-throws by Webster at 4:55 brought the Tiger's lead up to 15. A fast break turnaround jump shot by Goynes put the Tigers 21 points ahead, 3:23, 44-23. HPU attempted to lower the lead with a layup, but White retaliated with a three-point jumper to move the lead back to 18, 47-25. Goynes brought a layup at 1:24 to extend the lead to 24 points, 49-25. The quarter ended after a layup and free throw from HPU, 49-28, as ETBU held a 21-point lead.
 
The last quarter began with two shots on the line by HPU, bringing the Tiger lead down to 19. Hall was fouled on a layup at 9:20, bringing the score 52-30. The Yellowjackets recorded a layup of their own at 8:08, followed by a jump shot at 7:01, 54-35. Purcell and Webster both recorded shots from outside the arc, 60-35, for a 25-point lead. A foul drawn on Levy gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game, 29 points, with 4:57 left in the game, 66-37. HPU had a jumper at 3:14, lowering the lead to 23, 66-43. A layup by Tiffany Bickford brought the lead back up to 25 at 2:02, 70-45. Both teams went to the line in the last minutes, ending the game 74-49 as the Tigers won. 
 
ETBU will be finishing the regular season next week playing at Ozarks on Thursday, February 16th, and at Texas Dallas on Saturday, February 18th.