COMMERCE – Needing a win to keep its hopes for a postseason berth alive, the East Texas A&M University women's basketball team defended home court with a 53-48 win over the Houston Christian Huskies on Thursday night on the Hunt Regional Healthcare Court at the Field House.
The Lions snapped a four-game losing streak with the win and avenged a loss to HCU in Houston earlier this season. East Texas A&M is now 7-20 overall and 4-14 in Southland Conference play, while HCU falls to 6-22 overall and 3-16 in conference play.
The Lions improve to 5-1 against the Huskies over the last three seasons. The win on Thursday night also snapped a seven-game losing streak at home for the Lions.
Based on results around the SLC on Thursday night, the Lions remain in contention for a berth into the eight-team conference tournament with two games left in the regular season. East Texas A&M currently sits two games back of A&M-Corpus Christi for eighth place, while McNeese is in ninth and a game ahead of the Lions.
The Lions pulled ahead 11-4 to start the game, though the Huskies kept the Lions without a point for the next seven minutes as HCU took a 13-11 lead on a 9-0 run at the end of the first quarter and to start the second.
A 7-0 run by the Lions over one minute and three seconds helped the Lions take a 20-15 lead and they did not trail again in the game, though the Huskies did score the first four points of the second half to tie the game at 25.
The Huskies used a quick 5-0 run to make it 33-32 in favor of the Lions with 2:27 left in the third quarter, the Lions scored the next nine to take a 42-32 lead on a three-pointer by
Jordyn Newsome (Irving – MacArthur) at the 9:06 mark of the fourth quarter.
JORDYN NEWSOME THREE-POINTER HIGHLIGHT
Another 6-0 run for the Huskies brought them within three with 6:15 to play, but the deficit was not smaller than three from that point as the Lions scored seven of the final nine points of the game over the last 3:35.
Newsome scored 14, hitting two shots from deep, and added six rebounds, one steal, and an assist, while
Nina Horvath (Oberwart, Austria) totaled 10 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Alva Hedrich (Muecke, Germany) had team-high eight rebounds for the Lions and
Nykesha Sanders (Detroit, Mich.) added four assists.
For the Huskies, Erin Maguire scored 14 and Victoria Dixon added 11 off the bench. The Lions outshot the Huskies, 31.5 percent to 28.6 percent, while the Huskies outrebounded the Lions, 45-36.
POST GAME INTERVIEW
UP NEXT
The Lions host UIW in the final home game of the season on Saturday at noon. East Texas A&M will honor its five seniors prior to the game. Tickets can be purchased at
LionAthletics.com/tickets.
-ETAMU-
