By Alan Wiederhold
Sports Information Director
LeTourneau University

CLARKSVILLE, Ark. – Three starting players scored in double-figures for the University of the Ozarks as the Eagles snapped LeTourneau's four-game winning streak Thursday by defeating the YellowJackets 72-59.

The Eagles shot 57 percent (16 of 28) from the field in the first half to take a 44-22 halftime lead, which they used to fend off a late second-half comeback attempt by LeTourneau.

Sabrina Goddard scored 20 points and Lacey Phillips added 19 points and 10 assists to lead the Ozarks (7-7, 5-6 American Southwest Conference).

At 5-6 in the ASC East Division, the Eagles pulled into a fourth-place tie with LeTourneau and Texas-Tyler, which lost Thursday at Texas-Dallas.

Sharday Cotton (Mansfield, La./LSU-Shreveport) scored 18 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds to lead the YellowJackets (8-6, 5-6 ASC East).

Meg McGuire (Hallsville, Texas/Hallsville) scored 11 points for the Jackets, while Bailey Moon (Emory, Texas/Rains) came off the LeTourneau bench to score eight points.

The Eagles jumped out to an early 7-0 advantage and held a 14-4 lead by the first media timeout of the game. Ozarks held LeTourneau to 29 percent shooting (7 of 24) from the field in the first half.

Ozarks continued to maintain control of the game in the second half, and used its cushion to keep the YellowJackets at bay at the end of the game.

The Eagles held a 68-42 lead with seven and a half minutes left to play, but found points hard to come by from that point on. Meanwhile, the Jackets made a furious comeback attempt as they outscored Ozarks 17-4.

Cotton scored 11 points for the Jackets in the second half while Andrea Ashley (Kilgore, Texas/Kilgore) scored all six of her points after halftime.

The YellowJackets had entered the game riding a four-game winning streak, their longest since the 2002-03 season.

The Jackets will aim for a return to their winning ways when they visit 14-1 Texas-Dallas. Tipoff time Saturday is slated for 1 p.m.