By Alan Wiederhold
Sports Information Director
LeTourneau University
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The LeTourneau YellowJackets held off a late charge by the Birmingham-Southern Panthers in a back-in-forth second half Saturday to claim a 67-64 win at the Sheraton Birmingham Classic.
The Jackets scored eight straight points to erase a six-point deficit with three minutes to play and then took the lead for good on a jumper by La'Queda Davis (Houston, Texas/Waltrip) with 1:10 remaining in the game.
Jessica Manas (Fort Worth, Texas/Haltom) scored a game-high 19 points to lead the YellowJackets (2-0), who opened with two wins for the first time since the 2006-07 season. Manas was 6-of-12 for the game and made three out of her seven 3-point tries.
Senior transfer Sharday Cotton (Mansfield, La./LSU-Shreveport) turned in her first LeTourneau double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling in 10 rebounds. She also had five steals in the game.
Both Cotton and Manas were named to the Classic's All-Tournament team at the conclusion of the game. Manas scored 15 points against Sewanee on Friday and Cotton averaged 12.5 rebounds over the two contests.
Trailing 61-55, Cotton cut BSC's lead in half when she got to the foul line after sinking a layup with 2:59 remaining in the game. Cotton added the free throw and the Jackets trailed by only three points.
After the Panthers were unable to get points on a free-throw trip on the other end, Jahmilah Tyson (Houston, Texas/Langham Creek) then tied the game with a 3-pointer with 2:11 left to play.
The Panthers were denied again following the 3-ball, as LeTourneau's DeShante Thomas (Tyler, Texas/Whitehouse) blocked two shots on the ensuing possession. The Jackets then reclaimed the lead when Manas hit two free throws with 1:43 left in the game.
BSC would then tie the game on a pair of free throws, only to see the Jackets claim the lead for good on Davis' jumper at the 1:10 mark. In all, Saturday's second half featured six ties and seven lead changes.
The Panthers had one more opportunity to tie the game at 65, but were unable to do so as Melanie Short made only one out of two free throw tries with 40 seconds remaining.
BSC held LeTourneau scoreless on the Jackets' next possession, only to turn the ball over with 11 seconds to play. After getting the steal, Manas was fouled and calmly sank two free throws to give the Jackets the 67-64 lead with nine seconds to play.
Davis finished the game with 14 points while Thomas added four points and three blocked shots for the YellowJackets. Julencia Curtis (Deltona, Fla./DeLand) and Andrea Ashley (Kilgore, Texas/Kilgore) also scored four points each for LeTourneau.
Junior post Lauren Llanes (League City, Texas/Clear Creek) blocked four shots for the YellowJackets.
Short led Birmingham-Southern with 18 points in the game. Ashton Spurgin, Alex Adams and Erin Moore scored 10 points apiece for the Panthers.
The YellowJackets open American Southwest Conference play the Saturday after Thanksgiving when they travel to McMurry. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.