MARSHALL, Texas – LETU suffered a 72-59 setback against No. 18 ETBU at Ornelas Arena Thursday.
The YellowJackets fell to 8-6 overall, including 5-4 in American Southwest Conference play. ETBU improved to 13-3, 9-2.
Keauna Whitfield led LETU with 18 points, Allaira Jones added 14 and Ajanae Thomas chipped in with 11.
After a tightly contested opening period, the Tigers dominated both ends of the floor in the second and amassing a 14-point halftime advantage. Leading 13-10 after one period, LETU was outscored 24-9, including 14 straight in the second.
The YellowJackets outscored ETBU 37-36 in the final 20 minutes, despite converting just 9 of 28 field-goal attempts. With the three-point shooting nonexistent, they matched the homeside point-for-point by converting 20 times at the charity stripe.
Behind by as many as 17 in the second half, Ajanae Thomas trimmed the margin to eight with 3:36 left. Going after a rebound, Thomas was the recipient of an intentional foul on the Tigers. She cashed in three of the four attempts to get her side within three possessions but that's the closest they could muster.
LETU concludes its four-game road swing at 1 p.m. Saturday against Belhaven in Jackson, Mississippi.
Inside the Numbers:
- LETU trails the all-time series 11-34, including 10 defeats in succession against its Highway 80 rival.
- Keauna Whitfield totaled 18, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
- This is her second double-double on the campaign and 24th in her career.
- She has 83 double-digit scoring performances in 106 career games, including 13 of 14 this season.
- Allaira Jones finished with 14 points, seven boards and one assist.
- Jones competed in 14 of the team's 15 contests this season, netting at least 10 points each time.
- Ajane Thomas narrowly missed a double-double with 11 points, nine rebounds, two rejections and a helper.
- She recorded her 10 double-digit scoring game of the season.
- Malacia Guy filled the scorebook with eight points, six boards and four assists.
- Kyndall Hardeman added six points and collected four missed shots.
- Kiara McElroy, Ty Moon and Jordan McClenton logged minutes.
