LONGVIEW – Cassi Rozanski was asked before the game which bee would be buzzing come the final buzzer.
 
"We will," the third-year confident LeTourneau University women's basketball coach said.
 
Call her optimistic. Call her correct.
 
LeTourneau beat Howard Payne, 73-52, Saturday at Solheim Arena to move to 8-7 overall, 4-2 in the American Southwest Conference. It came on a day when four players scored in double figures for the YellowJackets, who forced the other Yellow Jackets into 17 turnovers, while committing a season-low three themselves.
 
"Defensively, we really stuck to our assignments and what we had talked about during the week, and we did a really, really good job on them," Rozanski said. "The team that we have, and how they've bought in, and how we've gotten better at what we're trying to do is just amazing. I'm really proud of them."
 
Keauna Whitfield had 17 points, six rebounds and two steals. Micayla Mikulski scored 14 points, and grabbed six boards. Vanessa Cruz had 11 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and five steals. Malacia Guy had 12 points and had two steals.
 
Nursing an eight-point halftime lead, LETU turned it up in the second half, outscoring HPU, 25-12, in the third quarter to take command of a game that remained tight for the first 22 minutes. But Cruz hit a layup, and Mikulski scored on back-to-back finds from Cruz as LeTourneau turned a two-point lead following a lay-in by HPU's Anastasia Willis into a seven-point lead in just over a minute. Howard Payne (6-10, 2-5) cut it to six on two more occasions, but Guy and Jordan McClenton sank two free throws apiece, Guy buried one of her two second half triples, and Whitfield buried a 3-pointer of her as LETU's lead grew to 16 with 3:20 remaining in the third.
 
"I want to thank my coaches for having confidence in me to shoot those shots as a freshman," Guy said. "The second half, I came out with the mentality I'm going to come out and shoot, and shoot with confidence."
 
Cruz hit a one-handed runner after a steal with 21 seconds left in the third quarter to bump LeTourneau's lead to 19. Lily Janek's 3 just under three minutes into the fourth pulled HPU within 12, but Whitfield knocked down her second three of the game, and then scored in transition after another steal and assist by Cruz to put it away.
 
"We've really been coming together as a team, knowing each other's roles, getting used to how we play," Guy said.
 
Cruz had five steals for the second straight game.
 
LETU, which entered the week ranked 16^th in the nation in turnover margin, scored 22 points off turnovers. The YellowJackets also grabbed 50 rebounds, including 16 on the offensive end, where they ranked ninth in the nation in that category entering the week.
 
LeTourneau will play at Belhaven 5:30 p.m. Thursday.