LONGVIEW, Texas -- Kylie Weeks and Makenzie Covey combined for 39 points and both achieved career-highs, but the LeTourneau women's basketball team could not complete the comeback effort in an 85-76 loss to Concordia Texas on Thursday inside Solheim Arena.

Weeks led LeTourneau (2-7) with a career-best 23 points and Covey notched a career-high 16 points. Weeks drained three 3-pointers and went 10-of-12 from the free throw line, while Covey was 6-of-10 from the field.

LeTourneau trailed by as many as 13 late in the second quarter, but trimmed that deficit to just two with under five minutes left in the game.

A Covey basket got the YellowJackets within 66-64 of Concordia with 4:45 left in the fourth. LeTourneau had a possession with a chance to tie or take the lead, but could not convert on its opportunity.

Instead, Concordia's Destiny Mathews scored 10 straight points for the visiting Tornados as they went on a 10-2 run over less than two minutes of game play to stretch the margin back to 10 (76-66). Mathews finished with a game-high 38 points to go with 13 rebounds and six steals.

The YellowJackets put four players in double-figure scoring as the 76 points was a season high. Mariana Espinosa had 14 points with eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Future Asevedo added 11 points with two rebounds. Sara Savage had four points with eight rebounds and six assists.

LeTourneau shot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) from the field with six 3-pointers and went 22-of-29 from the free throw line. The YellowJackets dished out 17 assists on 24 made field goals.

As good as LeTourneau was offensively, Concordia (3-3) was just a bit better. The Tornados were limited to 38.8 percent (26-of-67) from the field but connected on 29-of-33 (87.9 percent) at the free throw line and tallied 21 points off YellowJacket turnovers.

Concordia built a 13-point lead late in the second quarter. Mathews had 20 points in the first half and a 9-2 run late in the second period made it a 44-31 lead. Covey capped her 14-point first half with a jumper in the final seconds of the period to trim the margin to 11 (44-33) at the break.

Kiki Gonzales added a double-double of 13 points and 15 rebounds for Concordia, while Katelyn Tietjen went 8-of-8 from the free throw line and scored 14 points with four assists.

UP NEXT

LeTourneau plays its second exhibition against a Division I member on Saturday at Tarleton State (11 a.m., ESPN+).

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