ABILENE, Texas – Dominating the tempo of the game with a fast-paced offense from start to finish, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team started the 2018-19 campaign on the right note with an 86-52 win over the McMurry University War Hawks at Kimbrell Arena. This is the most points ETBU has scored in a single game in the Rusty Rainbolt era as ETBU is 1-0.

While all but two players got on the scoresheet, it was Kendrick Clark (five-of-seven shooting) and Mallory Stephens (four-of-seven shooting) that finished with a game-high 12 points each to lead ETBU. Anna Moss grabbed five rebounds while Taylor Singleton dished out three assists throughout the game. McM was led by 11 points from Savannah Johnson while Skyler Reyna grabbed seven rebounds for the War Hawks.

Aside from outscoring them in points, the Tigers won many offensive categories, such as points in the paint (46-24), points off turnovers (34-20), and fast break points (35-4). In addition, ETBU outrebounded McM 36-30 while making 50% from the field, 25% from the three-point range, and 62.5% from the free throw line.

ETBU would grab the lead for good in the first eight seconds in the first quarter on a layup by Singleton (9:52). Over the next five minutes, the War Hawks would keep the game as close as two points while ETBU would extend it to four. Ahead 12-10, ETBU would answer with ten unanswered points (4:38-2:26) to go ahead 22-10. Layups by April Matthews (4:20), Karley McHenry (3:57), and Stephens (3:30), was followed by a three-point play from Amanda Wilson (2:44) to spark the run. The Tigers would end the first quarter with a 26-13 lead.

The second quarter would see ETBU push their lead to fifteen points at 32-17 as Clark (8:31), Matthews (6:40), and Stephens (5:41) tallied the six points. Twice the War Hawks brought the deficit down to 10 points at 32-22 (4:51) and 35-25 (3:59) only to see layups by Singleton (3:51) and Matlock (2:37) put ETBU up 39-25. Free throws by Saxton (1:49) plus a three by Kayla Bise (0:42) gave ETBU a thirteen point lead at 44-31 going to the half.  

As the third quarter started, ETBU engage in a 9-2 run (10:00-6:44) to lead 53-33 as Clark scored five of the points (9:00, 7:15) to start the scoring. A McM layup at 5:42 would be the last time the War Hawks would be within under twenty points (53-35) as ETBU would regain the twenty-point lead on Stephens' free throws (5:36) at 55-35. Then, ETBU raced out to a 10-3 run (5:06-2:01) which pushed the lead to 65-38. Saxton would tally four points on free throws in the stretch. The lead would escalate to twenty-eight as Bianca Bowring (0:42) and Marissa Warren (0:01) would score the final five points for ETBU to see the score at 70-42 after three quarters.

ETBU would finally see a thirty-point lead on a jumper by Moss (9:52) to go up 72-42. The closest that McM would get within was twenty-six at 77-51 (4:41). Once again, ETBU would go back up by thirty after layup by Clark (3:28) to lead 81-51. A 5-1 run by ETBU, which contained a layup by Stephens (2:06) and a three by Bise (1:48) would end the contest with an 86-52 win.

ETBU will head out to Kerrville, Texas, to play Schreiner University this Saturday at 2:00 PM.