JACKSON, Miss. – LeTourneau University women's basketball team took care of business on the road to close out their regular season, delivering a 82-67 win over Belhaven Friday.
Keauna Whitfiled led the way for the YellowJackets in the scoring column, dropping 32 points, tying her career-high. Whitfield also ripped down a season-high nine boards, had three assists and three steals. Scruffy Hopkins filled up the stat sheet with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Ajanae Thomas had 13 points and seven rebounds, and Flora Akingbade had nine points and 11 rebounds.
After a tight first quarter, LeTourneau took only a one point lead heading into the second period, 19-18. In the second quarter, the YellowJackets began to find their groove, shooting 10 of 21 from the field and knocking down four triples. After a made layup by Whitfield, and a made three pointer by Hopkins at the 7:38 mark, the Jackets put together a 17-6 run. Whitfield scored 10 of her 32 points in the quarter. LETU outscored the Blazers, 25-12, to take a commanding 14 point lead into halftime.
The YellowJackets continued to extend their lead in the second half, a made layup by Hopkins midway through the third quarter pushed the lead to a game high 26 points. Belhaven (6-11, 3-9 American Southwest Conference) cut it to 15 to close out the quarter, after a made layup from Janae Collier with 58 seconds to go.
The Blazers trimmed it down to 11 with 3:10 to play, but Whitfield netted a jumper less than a minute later, and sank a pair of free throws to bump the Jacket lead back to 15. Belhaven never cut the deficit under 15 points the rest of the way.
LeTourneau outscored Belhaven, 17-11, in second chance points. The Jackets outscored the Blazers, 46-34, in points in the paint. LETU won the rebounding battle 41-36.
Malacia Guy had eight points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals. Kyndall Hardeman finished with five points and five rebounds.
The YellowJackets close out the regular season 12-5 and 8-4 in ASC play. The Jackets will look to seek revenge against the University of Texas-Dallas in the American Southwest Conference Championship quarterfinals. They will face off at UT-Dallas Wednesday at 6 p.m.
