ABILENE, Texas -- LeTourneau women's basketball falls to their first American Southwest Conference opponent, No. 24 Hardin-Simmons, 81-52 in the defeat on Thursday evening.

LeTourneau (3-4, 0-1) held with Hardin-Simmons (4-2, 1-0)  leading midway through the first period out-scoring the Cowgirls 9-7 at the 4:37 mark. A Johnai Wimbleduff layup secured the lead for the Jackets to go along with a few buckets earlier scored by Haylee Jordan and Kyndall Hardeman. 

The Cowgirls then pulled away in the second period and the YellowJackets could not keep up, being outscored in the second period 17-to-9, they faced a 35-19 deficit heading into the locker room. 

The YellowJackets found opportunities to score in the third period scoring 16 points which were contributed from across the team. Hardin-Simmons were able to take advantage of their 10 offensive rebounds from the period, scoring 14 second-chance points. The Cowgirls took a 58-35 lead into the fourth quarter.

Wimbleduff found seven points going 3-for-6 from the field, one from behind the arc, in the fourth quarter. The Jackets scored 17 total points in the last period, unfortunately the baskets were starting to fall a little too late to mount a comeback.

Jordan and Wimbleduff were the YellowJacket leading scorers with 13 points each. Jordan had nine rebounds while Wimbleduff had five rebounds of her own.

AJ Thomas and Ty Moon both recorded seven points. Moon had four assists while Thomas recorded nine rebounds and a steal.

Hardin-Simmons' leading scorer, She'Ray Wilson, recorded 15 points and four assists. Natasha Blizzard put up 10 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. 

The Cowgirls had totaled 30 points off of turnovers and 23-second chance points while LeTourneau scored 10 points from turnovers and just 10 second chance points.

The Jackets could not find a big run in the game with their best scoring run being in the first quarter with four unanswered points.

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LeTourneau will stay on the road as they face McMurry on Saturday at 1 p.m. to continue conference play.