Campus News

W BASKETBALL: Lady Tigers stay hot with 76-66 win at LeTourneau

LONGVIEW, Texas (2/2/10) – ETBU picked up where it left off last week against LeTourneau, getting a combined 31 points from seniors Satara Harrell and Karlee Wilson Tuesday night on the way to a 76-66 victory over the Lady Jackets at Solheim Arena.

The victory is the fifth in a row for ETBU (10-10, 8-7 ASC), which edged one-half game ahead of idle Texas-Tyler in the ASC East Division standings. The Lady Tigers will host UT Tyler on Thursday night in the home finale this season for ETBU in Ornelas Gym.

LeTourneau (4-16, 4-11) dropped its seventh straight game and is all but eliminated from the playoff race with the loss.

Tuesday’s win was similar to the four preceding it during the current win streak, meaning there was nothing particularly spectacular about the Lady Tigers other than effort and hustle, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. ETBU forced LeTourneau into 26 turnovers on the night, 11 of which came via Lady Tiger steals.

The Lady Jackets hit just seven shots in the entire first half and although they shot nearly 58 percent in the second half while getting within five points of ETBU on a couple of occasions, LeTourneau could only get off 19 shots the entire period.

Harrell and Wilson took care of the offensive end. Harrell scored a game-high 17 points, was 5 of 7 from the floor and hit 7 of 8 free throws. Wilson overcame a slow start and finished with 14 points and five rebounds and managed to stay aggressive and stay in the game despite picking up her fourth foul midway through the second half.

Freshman Brandace Latin scored 10 points in just 13 minutes off the bench, hitting 3 of 4 shots and going 4 of 5 from the free throw line. As a team, ETBU was 25 of 34 at the charity stripe and has now gone a combined 57 of 74 (77 percent) at the stripe in its last two games.

LeTourneau got 13 points from three different players – Laura Hahn, Colleen Redmond and April McCamey – in the loss.

ETBU will honor Wilson and Harrell, the team’s only seniors, in a pregame ceremony prior to Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. tip off.