A strong second half performance by visiting University of Mary-Hardin Baylor women's basketball team led the Lady Cru to a 78-67 win over LeTourneau University on Saturday afternoon in Solheim Arena.
The YellowJackets (4-5, 2-4 ASC) was led by senior Julencia Curtis (pictured/photo by Daniel Farrell), who scored 12 points and sophomore Ashley Stephens added 11 in the defeat. LeTourneau got a spark from its bench, who outscored its counterparts by a 31-15 margin.
The Lady Cru (4-6, 4-3 ASC) were able to land four in double figures and shot 46.2% from the field in the final 20 minutes for the win. Jovana Miles had a double double, scoring a game-high 20 points and grabbing game-high laurels also with 12 rebounds. She was joined in double digits by Taylor Tucker – who added 15 – Alyssa Dean and Macy Moore scored 14 and 10 points, respectively.
"Today was a tough loss," said LeTourneau head coach Corey Thomaston. "We were disciplined in the first half and really defended well in spite of the fact that we were not firing on all cylinders on the offensive end. In the second half, we simply didn't match their level of intensity and determination. We have to fight for 40 minutes and that is still a lesson we are trying to learn. We will take things we learned today and be better in the future because of our desire to move this program forward."
LeTourneau jumped out to a 15-6 advantage to start the game, culminating with a 3 pointer by senior Ashley Fajardo. The guard from Mission Viejo has hit a 3 pointer in all 10 contests for the YellowJackets. The Lady Cru rallied to cut the deficit to 1, 15-14, with an 8-0 spurt and eventually gained an 18-17 advantage with 8:41 to go in the first 20 minutes.
The YellowJackets came back with five-straight points to take the lead, 22-18, with 6:18 to go in the opening half. For the rest of the half, they would stretch the margin to as much as seven as sophomore Kalyn Shorter came off the bench to provide a spark. The Bossier City, Louisiana native scored five of her career-high seven points that kept LeTourneau in front for the rest of the half as they went into the break with a 32-29 lead.
An 8-3 spurt sparked by Dean, who scored seven of the points, to start the second half by the visitors put the Lady Cru ahead, 37-35, with 17:02 to play.
The spurt gave them a lead that they would not relinquish as the YellowJackets would get as close as five. In the second 20 minutes, Tucker had 13 of her 15 and Miles had 10 of her 20 to lead UMHB; plus for LeTourneau, Curtis had eight of her 12 points and all five of her rebounds to lead the YellowJackets.
Next, LeTourneau continues its four-game homestand to begin 2014 when they host the University of Texas-Dallas on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 5:30 p.m. in Solheim Arena.