AUSTIN - The LeTourneau YellowJacket women's basketball team returned to action on Saturday afternoon as they played against the home standing and defending American Southwest Conference Champion Concordia Tornadoes in non-conference action on the final day of the CTX Tip-Off Tournament.
Tough shooting cost the YellowJackets (1-1) on this day as they only shot 36% from the field compared to 54% from the Tornadoes.
Concordia (2-0) jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the game as four of their points came off of free throws. Junior Andrea Ashley, coming off her first double-double, laid one in to get the Jackets on the board. The Tornadoes pushed the lead to 8-2, but two free throws from freshman Erica Carson and a layup from junior Ashley Fajardo made it a 10-6 game.
The two teams battled as LeTourneau would come within five points on numerous occasions, but Concordia repsonded by going on mini-runs to increase their lead back up 10. The Tornadoes took a 39-29 lead into the break.
Concordia came out and increased their lead to 15 to start the second the half as theJackets turned it over three times in the first minute and a half. Even worse for the Jackets, junior post player Julencia Curtis went to the bench with her third foul. The Tornadoes got their lead to as many as 16.
However, the Jackets were not going down easily as a some freshmen came off the bench and sparked the Jackets, starting with Carson, who was key down low as se was in for Curtis. After two free throws from Laura Driskell, Alyson Duplantis swished a three pointer followed by another three pointer from Driskell to cut the deficit to eight.
However, the Tornadoes were able to take control of the game and hold on to take the non-confernece win, 84-72.
Ashley led the way again, showing consistency for the Jackets, shooting 5-for-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. She also added six rebounds and four steals. Fajardo came off the bench to add 14 points while junior Jessica Manas scored 12 points to go with three assists and three steals. Carson also had a nice game off the bench with nine points and four rebounds as Curtis fouled out of the game.
LeTourneau did force 31 turnovers, but could not take advantage with the tough shooting day. Concordia outrebounded LeTourneau 37-34, but the Jackets did pull down 18 offensive rebounds.
The YellowJackets take 12 days off before returning to this very site in Austin, Texas for a rematch against Concordia on November 29th. This time, it will be the first ASC game of the season for LeTourneau with tip off set for 5:30 p.m.
