LONGVIEW - Despite a huge 20 points, 20 rebound outing from junior Andrea Ashley, the East Texas Baptist Tigers were too much for the LeTourneau YellowJacket women's basketball team, taking a 73-58 loss to their arch rivals.
The Jackets (7-16, 4-13 ASC) started things by honoring their lone senior in her final game, Lauren Llanes. Llanes, who tore her ACL to start the season, was on the floor for the opening tip where LeTourneua purposely threw it away and gave her one final ovation from the YellowJacket faithful.
ETBU (14-9, 9-8 ASC) got a three pointer to get things rolling but freshman Alyson Duplantis responded with a jumper to make it a 3-2 game. Junior Jessica Manas followed that up with a steal and layup to give the Jackets the early lead.
The two teams exchanged buckets as freshman Ashley Stephens and junior Andrea Ashley got on the board, but the Tigers responded with an 11-0 run to take an 18-8 lead as the Jackets went cold from the field for five minutes.
LeTourneau responded with seven straights with a foul and free throw from freshman Erica Carson and four straight points from Manas.
However, the hot shooting Tigers could not be contained as a 16-2 run pushed their lead out to 17.
ETBU continued to control the half as they took a 43-23 lead into the break.
The Tigers started the second half by increasing their lead to 28. Ashley began to get things going as she tried to get her team back into game. Manas and Stephens also contributed to try and get a run going.
However, it was not enough as ETBU maintained control and pulled away for the 73-58 victory.
The Jackets only shot 31% from the field - compraed to 42% by the Tigers. LeTourneau struggled from the three point line as well, going 0-of-19 from behind the arch.
Ashley was a huge bright spot, going for 20 on 7-of-12 shooting and 20 rebounds including three steals. Manas pitched in 14 points and four steals while Stephens added 13 points, four rebounds, two steals, and two assists.
For LeTourneau, they are back in action on Thursday as they head to the mountains in Arkansas to take on the University of the Ozarks in the final weekend of regular season play. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
