The LeTourneau University women's basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 87-83 decision to Louisiana College in an American Southwest Conference matchup on Saturday at the Solheim Arena.
 
LeTourneau (4-2, 2-1 ASC) landed three in double figures – senior Alexis Wighaman with 15, senior Ashley Fajardo with 14 and junior Rebecca Stewart added 12 – in the loss. Wighaman had her second double double of the young season with a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
Louisiana College (4-1, 3-0 ASC) had five in double digits including Danisha Allison, who scored a game-high 17 points. Karylon Thornton added 16, Kaci Willis and Skyla Chenevert each scored 13 and Shelby Stewart poured in 11 for the Wildcats.
 
"I'm extremely proud of the effort our ladies displayed this afternoon. Louisiana is a fine program and we took them to the very end," said LeTourneau University head coach Corey Thomaston.
 
The contest went back and forth as neither could sustain a lead and the momentum until the visitors went on an 11-0 run over the final 4:22 to close out the contest. Wighaman put the YellowJackets up 83-76 on a three-point play. However, the visitors answered with the game-deciding run to pick up the win.
 
"We'll learn and grow from this with the understanding that this is a marathon run through our league and one outcome defines nothing about us and our program," said Thomaston. "We are pushing this thing forward and these ladies understand that we are just getting started." 
 
In the game, the two teams combined to shoot 75 free throws as 48 fouls were called in the contest. Louisiana College made 29 of 40 free throws and LeTourneau shot 24 of 35. Both teams received strong play from its bench as the Wildcats outscored the YellowJackets by a 36 to 33 margin.
 
LeTourneau found itself behind as much as 11 in the first half before closing out the half on a 7-3 spurt to tie the game at 37 at the halftime break. Five of the seven points came from freshman Ashley Reed to spark LETU. The YellowJackets scored the first five points of the second half only to see the visitors claw back with the next five to tie the game at 44.
 
The game would be tied on three more occasions until Fajardo hit her second of back to back three pointers that put the YellowJackets up by a 66-63 margin with 8:56 to play. LeTourneau added to its lead when freshman Bria Goodman hit her first collegiate trifecta to stretch the lead to 69-63 with 8:37 to go. Eventually, LETU was able to stretch the margin to eight on a pair of occasions before a late run by Louisiana College brought the visitors back for the win.
 
Next, LeTourneau will be idle for the week as the student-athletes will be preparing for final exams before returning to the court on Tuesday, Dec. 17 when they travel to University of Texas-Tyler for a 5:30 p.m. tilt.