Box Score A 3-pointer by senior Margaret Milling of Concordia with 2:21 to play in the second half sparked a game-deciding 7-2 run for the visiting Tornados en route to a 55-50 win over the LeTourneau University women's basketball team on Thursday evening.
 
The YellowJackets (4-5, 2-4 ASC) displayed balanced scoring with freshman Ashley Crockett coming off the bench to lead LeTourneau with eight points. Plus, senior Ashley Fajardo added seven and three more YellowJackets had six in the defeat.
 
The Tornados (5-4, 3-3 ASC) were led by freshman Celeste Laredo, who scored a game-high 15 – 13 of which came in the first 20 minutes. Senior Tyler Compton added nine and Milling scored seven to pace the visitors from Austin.
 
The contest was tight throughout the 40 minutes as the score was tied on three occasions and the lead exchanged hands on 11 occasions. Both teams utilized aggressive on-the-ball defense, forcing 16 turnovers each, grabbing 36 rebounds and both teams shot under 40% in the contest.
 
LeTourneau scored the first nine points of the second half to rally from a 32-24 halftime deficit to take a 33-32 lead when Crockett made a pair of free throws with 13:41 to play. It was the first lead by the host YellowJackets since the 8:17 mark of the first half when freshman Marialle Boles made a put-back attempt.

Concordia came back to tie the contest at 38, later in the half, but the YellowJackets retaliated with a 6-0 spurt with three-different players sharing in the scoring responsibility to take a 44-38 lead with 7:28 to go. The Tornado, again, had an answer for the LeTourneau spurt when they went on a 9-2 run for a 47-46 lead on a Milling layup.
 
LeTourneau came back and took its last lead, 48-47, when sophomore Kalyn Shorter made a layup with 4:35 remaining. After the YellowJackets missed a few opportunities to extend its lead, Milling hit the 3 pointer that put the visitors ahead by two, 50-48, as well as for the rest of the contest.
 
Despite the defeat, the Letourneau bench sparked by Crockett outscored its visitors by a 28-15 margin and the Sherman native had a hand in the YellowJackets outscoring the Tornados, 30-28 in points in the paint.

It will be a quick turnaround for LeTourneau as they will host Mary-Hardin Baylor on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 1 p.m. inside Solheim Arena.