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LeTourneau University Athletics

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LeTourneau University, opens in new tab
Alyssa Abrams
Natalie Connelly
69
Winner Texas-Tyler UTT-W 12-8
46
LeTourneau LETU-W 5-15
Winner
Texas-Tyler UTT-W
12-8
69
Final
46
LeTourneau LETU-W
5-15
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Texas-Tyler UTT-W 13 15 20 21 69
LeTourneau LETU-W 13 1 11 21 46

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Contact: Matt Kinney, Sports Information Director, mattkinney@letu.edu

LeTourneau Women Fall In Return Home Against Texas-Tyler 69-46

LONGVIEW, Texas – Second quarter shooting woes would put the LeTourneau University women's basketball team in a 28-14 hole that would be too big to overcome in the second half in a 69-46 home defeat to the University of Texas-Tyler at Solheim Arena on Thursday, January 31st.

The game, which does not count towards American Southwest Conference standings, is slated to be the final game against East Texas Rivals as LETU falls to 5-15 overall. Texas-Tyler, who is in the first year of NCAA Division II Reclassifying, improved to 12-8 overall with the victory.

How It Happened:
  • Senior Sha'Donnaver Young would look to get things going early on for the YellowJackets, connecting on a pair of free throws before coming down and hitting a trey with 7:57 remaining in the first quarter to give LETU a 5-3 lead.
  • In what would become a back-and-forth opening period, UTT would score the next four points of the game before an Alexandria Thorne bucket knotted the game at 7-7 as part of three lead changes and three ties.
  • Following a second 4-0 surge for Texas-Tyler, LeTourneau would connect on a Claudia Moonsammy triple followed by a Thorne trey to claim a 13-11 lead before a final basket by the Patriots tied things at 13-13 heading to the second.
  • Points would be far and few in between for both squads in the opening stages of the second as Texas-Tyler would score the first four points of the second quarter before an Alyssa Abrams free throw cut the deficit for the YellowJackets down to 17-14.
  • The final 11 points of the first half would wind up falling in favor of Texas-Tyler as LeTourneau would be forced to trail 28-14 at the break after some unlucky bounces on multiple shots in the quarter.
  • Three-point shooting would become a focal point for both teams to open the third quarter with the Patriots and YellowJackets combining to make three of their first four shots come from the outside.
  • As part of the barrage, Texas-Tyler would get back-to-back three's from Shadazia Birchette and Carissa Spiker to go up 41-17 but would be quickly answered by a Thorne triple with 3:05 remaining in the quarter.
  •  The up-tempo pace of the quarter would close out the third with Texas-Tyler and LeTourneau combining to score 12 points in the final 2:53 as LETU would face a 48-25 deficit with 10 minutes remaining to try and mount a comeback.  
  • Matching each other bucket-for-bucket, LETU and UTT would find themselves picking up where they left off to end the third quarter as the YellowJackets would break through with a 7-2 run to gain some momentum and trail 52-32 with 7:49 remaining.
  • Four straight points for Texas-Tyler would briefly put things on hold for LeTourneau, but Thorne would prove once again to come up with a big shot by hitting a three which would be followed up by a Moonsammy triple just two minutes later.
  • The two treys would be part of an 8-2 YellowJacket run that saw LETU close the gap to 58-40, but it would ultimately prove to be too much offense by the Patriots down the stretch as LeTourneau never could fully close the gap.
Key Stats:
  • Points in the paint would prove to be the biggest difference in the game as Texas-Tyler outscored LeTourneau 36-8 in the paint while also getting 23 points from bench players.
  • A 50 percent (7-for-14) outing from the three-point line in the second half would help LETU hit 10 triples in the game compared to just a 4-of-21 (19 percent) performance from the Patriots.
  • Thorne led the YellowJackets with 19 points and four rebounds while Whitfield would grab a team-best 11 rebounds.
What's Next?
LeTourneau will get a second shot at the University of the Ozarks on Saturday, February 2nd with a 1 p.m. tip-off against the Eagles from Solheim Arena. Ozarks is coming off back-to-back losses to East Texas Baptist University and is now 11-10 overall and 7-5 in American Southwest Conference action heading into Saturday.
 
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