By TWU Athletics Communications

DENTON, Texas (December 21, 2019) – In their last game of this decade, Texas Woman's used a strong defensive performance to defeat University of Texas at Tyler, 65-49, Saturday afternoon in Magee Arena.

The Pioneers applied a smothering defense that forced the Patriots to turn over the ball 22 times while keeping their own miscues to nine.  TWU, which ended a four-game losing streak, scored 18 points off turnovers.

"That was our goal – to apply pressure, force the turnovers and convert them into points," head coach Beth Jillson said.  "I am proud of our defensive intensity today.  It was a great team win as we shared the ball well."

The first quarter saw the Pioneers build an eight-point lead at 21-13 with a 47.1% field goal percentage.

Both teams disappeared in the second quarter though as cold shooting plagued everyone.  TWU went over six minutes without scoring until Kam Daily hit a jumper at 3:16 while UT Tyler had nearly a seven-minute scoring drought.  TWU had five points and UT Tyler had four in the frame to make the score, 26-17, at halftime.

The lull didn't last long for the Pioneers.  In the third they picked up the intensity and the Patriots couldn't get their shots off.  When UT Tyler (2-7, 0-5 Lone Star) misfired, TWU was crashing the boards and transitioning quickly down court.  Ngozi Obineke got the basket off a fast break with 1:20 on the clock to put TWU up, 39-25.  Then London Archer was good on back-to-back layups to give the Pioneers a 43-27 lead after three.
  
"We did a great job of forcing UT Tyler to turn the ball over including several times when they had a shot clock violation," Jillson said. 
 
TWU scored 22 points in the fourth quarter on 50% shooting.  Obineke sunk her free throw at 5:01 to give TWU its biggest lead at 20, 52-32.  The freshman forward went on to score 10 of her 15 points in the last period and the Pioneers got 18 points from their subs.

"Ngozi (Obineke) was impressive coming off the bench today," Jillson added.  "She scored but she also disrupted a lot of plays, getting up and getting hands on the ball.  I thought Sadie (Moyer) had a good game too.  She distributed the ball well and helped us with a team-high four assists."

TWU (4-5, 2-3 LSC) shot 39.1% from the field and 72.2% from the free throw line.  Carissa Moody led all players with 18 points and six rebounds.

The Pioneers return action in the new year when they host Texas A&M International on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.