POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH ANDREA ASHLEY AND COREY THOMASTON
LONGVIEW - The LeTourneau YellowJacket women's basketball team knocked off the No. 2 team in the ASC East, the Texas-Dallas Comets, thanks to a big second half where they outscored the Comets 41-24. The win ends a five game skid for the Jackets as they look to move back towards ASC playoff contention.
It was another slow start for LeTourneau (7-11, 4-8 ASC) as they fell behind 8-0 throughout the five seven minutes of the game. Junior Alexis Wighaman finally got the Jackets first points to fall on a layup plus a free throw on the foul. Junior Julencia Curtis responded on the next possession to cut the deficit down to three points.
Texas-Dallas (13-6, 9-4 ASC) extended their lead to seven, but junior Jessica Manas responded with a layup to keep the game at five.
The two teams exchanged buckets, but a late run after the final media timeout found Texas-Dallas ahead 28-17 with 1:50 to go before the break. LeTourneau was able to get the final three points to stay in striking distance thanks to Ashley's first points of the game and a free throw from freshman Kaley Green.
Green started the second half off with a bang as she hit a three pointer. After a jumper from the Comets, Ashley and Green followed up with back-to-back layups to make it a three point game.
However, Texas-Dallas came right back and extended their lead to eight as they looked like they were going to take control of the game. However, Green made another three pointer followed by a jumper from Wighaman to get the game down to three again.
Again, the Comets pushed their lead to seven with 10:08 to go in the game, but Manas responded with a three followed by a layup from freshman Ashley Stephens and the go-ahead three pointer from freshman Alyson Duplantis at the 8:08 mark.
The two teams went at it back-and-forth as Ashley began to heat up in the post. The two teams found themselves tied at 50 with 4:18 remaining.
Ashley went to work and went hard to the basket, drawing the foul while making her layup to extend the lead back out. She made her free throw for a three point lead with 3:58 to go.
After a jumper from Texas-Dallas, Manas hit a huge contested layup and LeTourneau used great defense and free throws to finish the game off and pick up the huge win.
Ashley was big for the Jackets, scoring 16 points and pulling down eight rebounds to go with three assists and three steals. Green and Manas picked up nine points each while Wighaman added eight points. Curtis had a nice night with six points, seven rebounds, and three blocks while Duplantis hit a pair of threes.
The key stat was LeTourneau forcing 20 turnovers on the evening and picking up 17 offensive rebounds.
The Jackets will return to action on Saturday as they will welcome in the Ozarks Eagles to Solheim Arena. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. and the game can be seen live on Pack Network.
