Crystal Jones scored 10 of her 23 points in the third quarter to lead the YellowJackets to a 69-66 victory over McMurry in LeTourneau's ASC home-opener on Saturday afternoon.
 
The combo of Jones and LaTanya Drakes proved to be too much for the visiting Warhawks as Drakes poured in 14 of her 16 points in the second half to go along with 14 rebounds. This was the fifth double-double performance for the senior from Gardena, California.
 
The senior duo of Bria Goodman and Paige Demery were huge for the YellowJackets who improved to 3-4 overall with the win and 2-1 in conference play. Goodman scored nine points and Demery added eight points and seven rebounds for LeTourneau.
 
"It was good to come out after finals week and get the win," said head coach Leslie Reinecker. "We saw improvement in our offensive execution and our team free throw percentage, which are things we have really been focusing on in practice. We have to improve defensively and on the boards, but overall we are happy with the result."
 
The first half was back and forth between the two teams as the game saw nine lead changes in the opening 20 minutes of play. The YellowJackets would go into the break with the single-point lead 31-30.

The third quarter was where LeTourneau won the game as they opened the period on a 12-2 run to take a 43-32 lead over the Warhawks. LETU would push the lead to as many as 14 in the third quarter that ended with a YellowJacket 54-42 lead after a pair of McMurry free throws.
 
The Warhawks would chip away at the lead in the fourth quarter including a seven-point run by McMurry's Skylar Reyna. A Jada Robert's free throw put LETU up by three with five seconds remaining in the game. LeTourneau would buckle down on defense to get the final stop and seal the victory for the YellowJackets.
 
The LeTourneau women will be back in Solheim Arena on Monday night at 5:30 p.m. for another American Southwest Conference matchup with Hardin-Simmons University. The Cowgirls come into the game with an identical 3-4 overall record and 2-2 in the ASC after dropping their last two games to Louisiana College and UT Tyler.