DENTON, Texas (Dec. 19) – The Pioneers held off a late Oklahoma Baptist charge for their seventh straight win with a 66-60 victory Saturday afternoon in Kitty Magee Arena. The win improves TWU's record to 9-2 on the season.
Five Pioneers scored seven points or more led by junior
Kenesha Saygo with 11 points. Junior
Erin Maxwell added 10 points and cleared a game-high nine rebounds. Sophomore
Morgan Easley added nine points while junior
Andrea Mapua and freshman
Bri'anna Gray both came off the bench and scored eight and seven points respectively.
OBU scored the game's first two points before the Pioneers went on a 10-0 run. Both teams traded baskets the rest of the quarter and TWU led 19-13 after one.
In the second the Lady Bison chipped away and cut the deficit to two points, 25-23, at 6:05 mark. TWU pushed the lead back to nine points at the end of the quarter, 35-26, after using a late 7-1 run, capped off by a three-pointer by Gray in the final seconds.
The Pioneers carried the momentum into the third and opened the quarter with nine straight points to make it 44-26. TWU maintained the big lead throughout the quarter and led 58-38 after three.
In the fourth the Pioneers led 63-43 with 7:14 left on the clock before OBU made a run. The Lady Bison outscored TWU, 17-3, in the final seven minutes.
"We played great basketball for three and half quarters," said TWU head coach
Beth Jillson. "We let them go on a run at the end and didn't take care of the ball. Other than that we played well on both offense and defense."
The Pioneers outrebounded OBU, 47-43, and outscored the Lady Bison, 24-18 in the paint. TWU also had 20 second chance points on 11 offensive rebounds.
The Pioneers will continue their homestand and host LeMoyone-Owen on Sunday, Dec. 20 in their final non-conference game of the regular season. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
"We have to take care of business tomorrow and close out our non-conference scheduled with a win," Jillson said. "We also want to go into the break on a positive note."
