ABILENE, Texas – LeTourneau University's women's basketball team couldn't overcome host Hardin-Simmons Saturday, falling 78-65.
Keauna Whitfield scored a season-high 29 points on 9 of 26 shooting, while grabbing a season-best 12 rebounds for the second straight game. She went 9-for-10 from the free throw line.
Malacia Guy added 11 points and two steals for the YellowJackets.
LETU (5-6, 1-1 American Southwest Conference) trailed by eight after the end of the first quarter, but used an 11-4 run to open the second period to cut the deficit to 26-25 on a three-pointer by
Scruffy Hopkins at the 6:38 mark. Jesyka Lee's fast break layup with 3:49 left in the half put the Cowgirls (9-3, 3-0) back up by four, but Whitfield scored 1:03 later to make it a two-point game. Guy buried a triple with 1:50 to play in the half to give LETU a 31-30 lead, but Karlea Ritchie answered on the other end, and Parris Palmer sank two free throws with five seconds on the clock to send Hardin-Simmons into the intermission up, 34-31.
The Jackets were 8 of 38 from the field, while the Cowgirls shot 11 of 30 in the first half. HSU outscored LETU, 18-8, in the paint in the half. LeTourneau outscored Hardin-Simmons, 7-2, in points off turnovers.
The Cowgirls built their lead 10 on a field goal in the paint by Ritchie 3:26 into the second half before
Jordan McClenton scored on the Jackets' next possession, and Whitfield hit a jumper to trim the gap back to six. Following an HSU basket by Kaitlyn Ellis, Whitfield scored the game's next seven points in a 52-second span to pull the YellowJackets within one, 47-46, with 4:09 to play in the third period. But the Cowgirls went on a 10-1 run to end the quarter, taking a 10-point lead into the fourth.
Whitfield scored 12 of her 20 second half points in the third quarter. She was 4 of 7 from the field in the period.
Triniti Anderson's layup seven seconds into the final quarter gave the Cowgirls a 60-49 lead. The YellowJackets whittled it down to five on a 3-pointer by
Micayla Mikulski to cap an 8-2 run. Ritchie's 3 at the 6:14 mark pushed HSU ahead by 12, but Guy canned a triple of her own 1:03 later to pull LETU within six. That's as close as it got as the Cowgirls outscored the YellowJackets, 9-2, down the stretch.
Hopkins finished with eight points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block.
Vanessa Cruz had seven points and three assists. Palmer had 18 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and two steals, and Ellis 16 points and seven boards, while shooting 8 of 9 from the field.
LETU outrebounded HSU, 47-45. The YellowJackets had 19 second chance points to the Cowgirls' 12. But Hardin-Simmons outscored LeTourneau, 42-20, in the paint. HSU was 19 of 22 from the free throw line. LETU went 18 of 26.
LeTourneau will return to Solheim Arena 5:30 p.m. Thursday to host Ozarks.
