MARSHALL, Texas - In spite of a low-scoring first quarter, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team finished the last six minutes of the game on a 12-2 run as they picked up a 61-47 win over Belhaven University. ETBU continues to hang on to first place in the American Southwest Conference East Division as they were able to up their record to 9-1 and 15-2 overall.

Kim Childress tied a season high with 25 points while Sydney Saxton grabbed seven rebounds to lead the squad. Madison McCoy and Karley McHenry both had four assists while Katy Boren picked up three assists. BU was led by Aaliyah Thornton (12 points, seven rebounds), Alexis Caldwell (12 points) and Lauren Brooks (10 points, nine rebounds).

As a team, ETBU made 44.4% from the field, 26.1% from the three-point range, and 63.6% from the free-throw line. ETBU also picked up 28 points in the paint and scored 18 bench points. BU was held to 25% from the field, 12.5% from downtown, and 64.3% from the free-throw line. ETBU also held them to 20 points in the paint and 11 second chance points.

The first quarter was entirely back and fourth as BU started the game with a layup fifty-one seconds into the game. McCoy tied it at 2-2 with a jumper (7:50) before BU got the lead back at 3-2 on a free throw forty-seven seconds later. Childress (6:50, 5:31) got ETBU's next four points to lead 6-5 while Dree Roberson (3:32) answered a BU basket at 4:43. Free throws by BU at 3:16 made it 9-8 before ETBU would get the final four points of the quarter off of baskets by Saxton to lead 12-9 after one.

Four points by ETBU from Brittney Jones (8:27) and Boren (6:59) gave ETBU a 16-9 lead at the start of the second quarter. The Blazers would answer with four straight points to trail 16-13 (4:12). But ETBU countered with a 9-0 run (3:47-1:47) as following a free-throw by Jones (3:47), the Tigers got three's by Childress (3:24) and Karley McHenry (2:21) while Mallory Stephens (1:47) added a jumper to lead 25-13. BU would cut the deficit to 27-17 at halftime.

ETBU would race out to an 8-6 run to start the third quarter in the first three minutes to lead 35-23. Childress would start off with five points (8:45, 7:56) while McHenry added a three (7:07). But BU would quickly reply with six unanswered points, which made them behind 35-29 with 5:44 to go. ETBU would stop the bleeding with back-to-back layups by both Saxton (3:56) and Childress (3:19) to lead 39-29. It was 41-31 when BU made a couple of free throws to trail 41-33 (2:19). Neither team would score as the game would go into the fourth quarter.

After each team tallied two baskets in the first seventy seconds for a 45-37 ETBU lead, BU would answer with five unanswered points to trail 45-42 with 7:32 to go. This would end up being the closest they would get to as ETBU would finish the game on a 16-5 run. Childress and Boren would each combine to score 10 points while Saxton and McCoy would add the final six points as ETBU secured the 61-47 win.

ETBU will return home to Ornelas to take on the University of Texas at Tyler this Thursday at 5:30 PM.