LONGVIEW, Texas – A runner in the lane by senior Ashley Reed allowed for the LeTourneau University women's basketball team to tie the game at 63-63 with two seconds remaining before a foul allowed for the University of the Ozarks to hit one of two free throws and escape Solheim Arena with a 64-63 win on Thursday, January 25th.
 
The one-point heartbreaker leaves LeTourneau with a 3-15 overall record and 0-15 mark in the American Southwest Conference while the Eagles picked up win number four to improve to 4-13 overall and 2-9 in the ASC.
 
"We did have a stronger second half tonight which we have not had lately, but Ozarks really dominated the paint tonight and it hurt us in the long run" said head coach Cassi Rozanski in a post-game interview. "We didn't have anybody that could stop her and we had to try and battle back from a bad first half, but in the end ran out of time."
 
A 36-26 advantage in points in the paint would go in favor of the Eagles despite a 39-34 advantage in rebounds for the YellowJackets who also had 17 second chance points. LETU shot 50 percent (17-for-34) from the field in the second half and hit five treys in the game, but managed to hit just eight-of-13 free throw attempts (61.5 percent).
 
Senior leadership would be evident throughout the game for LeTourneau with Reed scoring 13 points and dishing out five assists while Savannah Cummings had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Keauna Whitfield led LETU with 16 points on seven-of-14 shooting to go along with six rebounds and three assists. Only four players would wind up in the scoring column for Ozarks led by a game-high 28 points from Diamond Goodwyn.

A back-and-forth start to the game saw neither team really grab control in the opening five minutes of action as an Alexandria Thorne jumper would give the YellowJackets a 7-5 lead with 6:04 left in the period before a 10-0 run by the Eagles put Ozarks up 15-7 with 54 seconds left in the first quarter. Whitfield responded with the final four points of the quarter to bring LeTourneau back within four to begin the second quarter, as the YellowJackets added the opening basket of the quarter to get within two at 15-13. 

An Ozarks free throw pushed the lead back out to three with just over seven minutes remaining the first half before Reed hit her first three of the game to knot the score at 16-16 heading into the final five minutes of the second quarter. Ozarks would close out the half by scoring 13 of the final 17 points as the YellowJacket offense would find a bucket by Madison Mayfield to go along with free throws from Olivia Eweni and Cummings down the stretch. 

Needing to close the gap to get back into the game, LeTourneau came out of the locker focused and ready to by, which showed with a 13-3 run to open the half and reclaim the lead by a score of 33-32 following another Reed three with 5:23 left in the quarter. Five straight points for Ozarks allowed for the Eagles to once again take the lead and get some breathing room as the YellowJackets would trail 42-37 heading into the fourth. 

In the fourth quarter, it would be a series of runs by both teams that played out as each time LETU would close the gap to a single possession Ozarks would push their lead back out to a more comfortable five-point lead to keep the YellowJackets at arm's length. LeTourneau would tie the game at 48-48 and again at 50-50 to give LETU a chance with five minutes left in the game. After getting the score tied at 50, the YellowJackets would surrender a 9-2 run to give Ozarks a 59-52 lead with 2:42 remaining, but LETU would show no quit and score the next four points to get within three at 59-56 with 40 seconds remaining.

Following a one-for-two trip to the charity stripe by Ozarks, LETU would get a three by Jaila Leaven to pull within one with 33 seconds left before again fouling the Eagles. More of the same from the free throw line put Ozarks up two which is where things would stand with eight seconds remaining and no timeouts for either team when Reed would drive the length of the court to tie the game. The Eagles would draw a foul on the inbound to send Hailey Ostrander to the free throw line where she would hit the first free throw before grabbing the rebound on a missed second attempt and run the clock out. 
 
More ASC hoops action for LeTourneau is in store on Saturday afternoon when the YellowJackets play host to the University of Texas-Tyler in Solheim Arena with tip-off set for 2 p.m. Texas-Tyler is 11-7 overall and 7-4 following a 61-56 win over ASC East leader East Texas Baptist University.