LONGVIEW, Texas- After giving up a late lead in the fourth quarter, a pair of stellar offensive performances allowed for the LeTourneau University women's basketball team to pull out a 79-75 overtime victory over McMurry University on Saturday January 5th.
 
The YellowJackets pick up their first American Southwest Conference victory of the season to improve to 4-10 overall and 1-6 in American Southwest Conference action. The loss drops the War Hawks to 4-11 overall and 1-5 in ASC action.
 
"I am extremely proud of the way the girls fought today" said head coach Cassi Rozanski in a post-game interview. "We battled through some adversity along with some ups and downs throughout and had girls step up when we needed them most." "Today was a complete team effort that allowed us to pull out the win!"
 
How It Happened:

• It was a slow first quarter as just nine points were scored between the two teams within the first five minutes of play which saw MCM hold a 5-4 lead.
• Alexandria Thorne would be quick to change that as she started her career day with back-to-back three pointers from to allow the YellowJackets to double up McMurry 18-9 at the end of the first.
• The YellowJackets carried their momentum into the second period, scoring their third triple in a row this time by Keauna Whitfield to allow LETU to grab a 12-point lead at 21-9.
• Despite five turnovers in the period, the potent YellowJacket offense was able to keep themselves on top as they headed into halftime with a 34-22 advantage.
• LeTourneau would take their largest lead of the game at 43-29 coming with 5:25 left in the third quarter after Sha'Donnaver Young sank four straight free throws.
• The War Hawks were able to cut the lead down to seven as they headed into the fourth quarter facing a 50-43 deficit after scoring seven of the final nine points of the period.
• Full court pressure would be the story of the final ten minutes of regulation as the War Hawks were able to rattle the YellowJacket offense after falling behind 57-43 with 8:21 left in regulation.
• A 10-0 McMurry halfway through the final period pulled the War Hawks within three at 57-54 with just over five minutes remaining.
• LETU did their best to avoid the late-game comeback but MCM would break through after a pair of free throws to deadlock the game at 66 with just 21 seconds remaining.
• There would be no score change following the free throws both teams would get an opportunity but be unable to break the tie to send things to overtime.
• Much of the overtime period would be back and forth as the teams traded the first 12 points to leave the game tied at 72 with 1:49 remaining.
• A 5-0 run by the YellowJackets ensued with Olivia Eweni getting a layup and free throw followed by a pair of Young free throws which was enough to clinch their second home victory in three tries.

Key Stats:

• The YellowJackets recorded a new season-high in scoring by finishing with 79 points. Thorne played a big role in that scoring a career-high 25 of those points.
• Whitfield grabbed herself her second double-double of the season after scoring 24 points and hauling in 14 rebounds.
• Free throw shooting both down the stretch in regulation and again in overtime would prove to play a role in the outcome as LETU would connect on 27 of their 37 (73 percent) of their attempts while McMurry hit 21-of-32 (65.6 percent) of their tries from the charity stripe.

 
What's Next?
The YellowJackets will return to American Southwest Conference action on Saturday, January 12th as they take on Texas Dallas in Richardson, Texas at 1 p.m. The Comets will enter Saturday's matchup with a 9-3 overall record and a 4-2 standing in the ASC as both teams turn their attention to ASC East Division play.