FRISCO, Texas (March 2, 2023) – Ahead of the 2023 Lone Star Conference Championships, the Texas Woman's basketball wanted to focus on joy.
 
TWU (24-4, 19-3) personified joy from start to finish in their quarterfinal win over St. Edward's (14-17, 10-11) on Thursday night.
 
Ignited by a maroon filled stands at Comerica Center, the Pioneers never trailed and never tied, recording their third wire-to-wire win of the season.
 
The joy was shown on the court, in the bench reactions and even in the Pioneers' play – the contagious joy was spread all over the court, as TWU recorded a season-high 18 assists.
 
Ashley Ingram and Brielle Woods led the sharing with four assists each, and Keslyn King finished with three.
 
A different story than the last time the two teams met; TWU started off on fire on offense. The Pioneers scored 20 points in the first quarter and held the Hilltoppers to just 10 points.
 
With storms raging outside, Scout Huffman brought the storm inside the Comerica Center to ignite the Pioneers' offense. Huffman scored the first six points of the game and gave TWU a 6-0 lead. St. Edward's would not find their first points of the game until the 7:15 mark.
 
The Hilltoppers drew within three in the first, but the Pioneers quickly pushed the pace.
 
Back-to-back buckets from the Pioneers, Huffman and Jordan Jackson, gave the Pioneers their first double-digit lead of the night with 1:57 remaining in the quarter, 18-8.
 
St. Edward's tried to cut into the lead but found no room as the Pioneers locked down on defense all night.
 
The quarter ended the same way it started with a Huffman two pointer to send the Pioneers into the second half with a 10-point advantage, 20-10.
 
The Pioneers kept the control in the second quarter, mounting an 8-2 run to claim their largest lead of the first half at 14, 28-14, with 4:30 remaining in the half.
 
Over the next two minutes, the Hilltoppers went on a 7-0 run that was quickly silenced by a Leila Patel three pointer. Then, Patel shared the wealth and dished an assist to Ngozi Obineke to put the Pioneers ahead by 10, 33-23, with two minutes left in the quarter.
 
Ten seemed to be the magic number for the Pioneers in the first half, as no matter what the Hilltoppers tried to do TWU found a way to push it back to 10.
 
To close the half, Moyer drained a three, assisted by Huffman, to send the Pioneers into the locker room with a 10-point lead, 36-26.
 
In the third quarter, the Pioneers' lowest lead was just nine points, which was on a quarter opening free throw shot by St. Edward's.
 
Entering the final quarter of action, TWU maintained a double-digit lead for the entire final 10 minutes. The Pioneers found their largest lead of the night, 19, on a jumper by Moyer at the 3:40 mark, 62-43.
 
The Pioneers started off strong and never looked back, defeating St. Edward's 62-50.
 
The quarterfinal win marks the first LSC Championships win for TWU since the 2015-16 season, when the Pioneers defeated Cameron in the opening round of the tournament.
 
Huffman led the Pioneers with 15 points, Moyer added 14 and Ingram rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10. King and Obineke both finished with eight points.
 
TWU won the rebounding battle, 34-32. Ingram led the Pioneers on the boards with six, Woods grabbed five, and King and Jada Celsur both recorded four.

Watch the post game press conference featuring Coach Beth Jillson, Sadie Moyer and Scout Huffman. 
 
The Pioneers await the winner of Lubbock Christian and Texas A&M – Kingsville for the semifinal game on Saturday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m.