LONGVIEW, Texas- Coming off their best defensive effort of the season, the LeTourneau University women's basketball team would be unable to overcome a rich offensive performance by Hardin Simmons University in a 65-48 defeat in front of their home crowd at Solheim Arena on Thursday, January 3rd.
 
The loss drops the YellowJackets to 3-10 overall and 0-6 in American Southwest Conference play. HSU has now won two straight games to move to 9-4 overall and 3-2 in ASC action.
 
How It Happened:

• It was a sloppy start to the contest as three turnovers were seen between the teams within the first minute of action. The Cowgirls would be the first to regain their composure as they took an early 5-0 advantage over the YellowJackets.
• Keauna Whitfield gave LETU their best look of the first quarter at the 6:28 mark when she pulled her team within three points at 8-5 with a layup past her defender. HSU was able to command the offensive side of the ball for the remainder of the period as they broke the game open by scoring 13 of the final 20 points of the period to claim a 21-12 lead heading to the second.           
• LETU would score only nine points in the second quarter, coming from four different YellowJackets. Defensively they were unable to stop the Cowgirls as a 9-0 Hardin-Simmons run ended the half to put HSU up 40-21.
• Alexandria Thorne would score seven of the first nine points of the second half for LETU, but Hardin-Simmons would maintain their lead by matching LeTourneau in the early stages 19 points. Things wouldn't get much better for the YellowJackets as HSU would take a 56-35 lead to the fourth.  
• LeTourneau would finally manage to find their stride in the fourth, outscoring the Cowgirls 13-7 in the final 10 minutes of action. Eight of the thirteen points came in the final five minutes of the game as Whitfield and Thorne strung together an eight-point run to end the contest as the rally would ultimately be too little too late.

Key Stats:

• Thorne led the YellowJackets for the second-straight game with a team-best 14 points and eight rebounds.
• Free throw woes would be an issue for LETU as the YellowJackets saw only three of their 12 shots go in while the Cowgirls connected on 11 of their 18 attempts.
• The YellowJacket defense would force a total of 21 Hardin-Simmons turnovers which would lead to 14 points on the offensive end in the contest while also adding 13 second-chance points.

 
What's Next?
The YellowJackets will look to grab their first conference win of the season as they return to action on Saturday, January 5th to take on McMurry University in a 1:00 p.m. matchup. The War Hawks will enter Saturday's game sitting at 4-10 overall and 1-4 in the American Southwest Conference and are coming off a 79-48 loss at East Texas Baptist University Thursday evening.