By Bronte Hermesmeyer for TWU Athletics Communications
ADA, Okla. (Nov. 27, 2019) – Texas Woman's couldn't dig itself out of an early hole Wednesday afternoon as East Central defeated TWU 61-42 to end the Pioneers' two-game winning streak.
ECU (2-5) raced out to a 16-3 lead in the opening quarter as TWU struggled to find the bottom of the net. The Pioneers (3-2, 1-0 Lone Star) went 6 for 23 from the floor and 1 for 10 from the three-point line and committed 17 turnovers.
"We were just a step behind throughout the game," head coach
Beth Jillson said. "We've really relied on our defense this year, but we gave up 14 second-chance points. They were able to catch it easy inside and we were nearly always late with our help defense. We didn't have a rhythm offensively and missed a lot of open shots."
In the second half,
Macy Wilkerson drained a three-pointer to spark a third-quarter rally where the Pioneers outscored the Tigers 17-12. However, ECU responded with a big fourth quarter to put away TWU.
Wilkerson produced her best outing of the season, finishing with a season-high 11 points while going 3 for 7 from the three-point line.
"We shot our best in the third quarter," Jillson said. "Macy did a great job of coming out in the second half with a scorer's mentality to give our team a little boost. Now we just all have to come together with that mentality and be consistent."
TWU shot just 28.3% from the field and 30% from beyond the arc. The Pioneers also managed just one rebound and zero second-chance points, which are two statistics Jillson wants her team to dominate every game.
"We've got to earn those second-chance points and we didn't do that tonight," Jillson said. "If we're not making shots, we have to be relentless on the boards. Give East Central credit, I thought they were tougher than us from the beginning and outworked us to get the win."
Next up, the Pioneers will return to Lone Star Conference action with a Dec. 5th road trip to No. 2 Lubbock Christian (5-0, 1-0 LSC), who is the reigning Division II national champion.
