MARSHALL, Texas – A dominant first quarter was all the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team would need as they would never trail to the University of Ozarks Eagles in route to a 69-56 win in American Southwest Conference East Division play. ETBU still remains tied for first in the ASC East with a 10-2 record are are 16-3 overall.

Madison McCoy was ETBU's top player with 16 points and seven assists while Katy Boren added 13 points, which included four three-pointers. Erin Meeks was just two points shy of a double-double with eight points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Hailey Ostrander was UO's top scorer with 16 points while sharing the assist lead at four with Anisha Johnson. Diamond Goodwyn tallied 14 points while Destinee Manning grabbed a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

ETBU outshot UO from the field (40%-35.7%) and the three-point line (41.4%-30.4%). While OU made 52.9% on the free throw line and tied with ETBU in rebounds with 41 each, ETBU's bench outscored UO's 20-10, and had seven fast break points to UO's two.

On the win from start to finish, ETBU head coach Rusty Rainbolt said the team's intensity showed throughout the course of the game even if there were things that didn't go well at times. "I was proud of the way the girls came out and started," said Coach Rainbolt. "They played with a lot of energy and intensity. Madison got us going by finding people tonight and brought a lot of energy and leadership. Katy shot the ball well. I was proud of the team in a lot of different ways and then there were things that we didn't do well tonight. We didn't defend specific scouting report stuff. So we got a lot to work on. But it was nice to a conference win for sure."

ETBU would get their first two points on layups by McCoy (9:39) and Amanda Wilson (8:57) before Manning would score the Eagles' first points (8:30). Following a layup by Kim Childress (7:29), UO got the second basket from Manning (5:57). But ETBU would finish the quarter with an 11-0 to lead 17-4 after one quarter. Three's by McCoy (5:38), Boren (4:23), and Karley McHenry (1:18) plus a pair of free throws from Mallory Stephens (2:12) would contribute to the run.

Both teams would end up scoring twenty points each as ETBU would tack on three more points on a three by McHenry to lead 20-4. UO would tack on a 6-3 run to trail 23-10 with 6:51 to play. But again, ETBU would go on the offensive as they charged their way to a 13-3 run (6:38-4:21) to lead 36-13. This started from back-to-back three's by Boren (6:38, 5:54) plus another three by McCoy (5:24) and layups by Meeks (4:49) and Childress (4:21). UO would answer with ten straight points (3:57-1:23) to trail 36-23 before each team would trade the final three points as ETBU led 37-24 at the break.

The third started out evenly with both teams trading points for the first five minutes with UO closing to a ten point deficit at 46-36 (5:58). ETBU would then finish the second half of the quarter on a 12-3 run to lead 58-39. Keying this was a 9-0 run that featured a layup (5:42), and free throws (1:27) by Stephens (5:42), a three by Boren (5:19), a layup by Dree Roberson (2:40). UO got a free throw by Manning (0:18) and a layup by Ostrander (0:15) before Childress (0:04) converted a three-pointer to go up 58-39 after three.

UO started to turn the game around in their favor with a 7-1 run (10:00-6:12) to trail 59-46. After exchanging points, ETBU's fourteen point lead at 63-49 (4:08) would shrink to 63-56 (2:19) following a 7-0 run. This would mark the first time in three quarters UO would trail by single digits.  But that wouldn't last as McCoy would hit a three-pointer with 1:52 to go that proved to be decisive. ETBU's two leading scorers in Boren (0:48) and McCoy (0:14) would combine for three-points on free throws as the 69-56 win was complete.
 
ETBU will begin the second half of the ASC East competition by facing the same Ozarks team again in Clarksville, Ark., on Thursday at 5:30 PM.