LONGVIEW, Texas - A 9-1 run by East Texas Baptist University would allow the visiting Tigers to claim the lead for good as the LeTourneau University women's basketball team fell by a final score of 68-48 in part one of the Highway 80 rivalry at Solheim Arena in Longview, Texas on Monday, January 15th.
LETU falls to 3-12 overall and 0-8 in the American Southwest Conference while ETBU remains atop the ASC East standings while improving to 13-2 overall and 7-1 in the ASC.
On a night where neither team was able to find much of a scoring touch, the Tigers would be able to connect on 35.8 percent (24-67) of their shots from the field while taking advantage of a 16-of-21 (76.2 percent) performance from the charity stripe. The YellowJackets managed to be efficient from the field in the first half by going 13-for-28 (46.4 percent) before being limited to a season-low three field goals in the second half (3-29, 10.3 percent). East Texas Baptist also utilized a size advantage on the low block to outscore LETU 38-18 on points in the paint to overcome 11 second chance points for LeTourneau.
Senior
Savannah Cummings led the YellowJackets on the night, falling just short of a double-double after scoring a team-high 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Jaila Leaven assisted on five buckets while also scoring eight points as senior
Ashley Reed saw her streak of nine consecutive games of scoring double-digits end after only scoring nine points. ETBU was led by a game-high 15 points from Madison McCoy who also added four assists.
It would manage to take a few minutes for the scoring by both sides to get going as LETU jumped out to a 9-5 lead midway through the opening period after a Cummings rebound and put back following a Reed missed three. East Texas Baptist would score five quick points to tie the game at nine all just 56 seconds later before eventually taking a 17-16 lead on a Brittney Jones free throw into the second quarter.
The Tiger lead would be maintained throughout much of the second quarter, with ETBU seeing LeTourneau pull within one three different times before opening up their largest lead of the first half at 27-20 with 5:17 remaining before intermission. LETU then used a 9-0 run to reclaim the lead at 29-27 with just under two minutes left in the first half, but once again found themselves down a single point as East Texas Baptist used a jumper in the paint with 21 seconds before halftime to take the lead.
A third quarter to forget saw LeTourneau manage to hit just one field goal coming on a Reed triple with 5:39 left in the period to cut the East Texas Baptist lead to 40-36, but seven of the final 11 points in the quarter would be scored by ETBU with only one made field goal coming in the back end of the third.
Free throw shooting continued to be the story to start the fourth quarter with the Tigers hitting three of their first four shots from the foul line to open up a 10 point lead at 50-40 before extending their lead to 57-43 with 6:51 remaining in the game. LeTourneau would fight back as they have done all season to cut the lead to single digits at 57-48 on a Reed free throw heading into the final 4:25 of the game, but a scoring drought found the YellowJackets which allowed ETBU to come away with the final 11 points of the game.
LETU will get a chance to respond on Thursday, January 18th when they hit the road to Jackson, Mississippi to take on Belhaven University starting at 5:30 p.m. The Blazers are 2-13 overall this year and 2-6 in the ASC.
