Basketball | 1/13/2024 6:21:00 PM
Box Score AUSTIN, Texas (Jan. 13, 2024) - Career and season highs were in full effect today as the Texas Woman's basketball team took down St. Edward's 83-64 on Saturday. TWU had a season high nine threes against the Hilltoppers as Leila Patel finished 4-5 from beyond the arc on a career high 24 points.
Patel led offensively for the Pioneers, and junior guard Ariyanna Hines was a pest on the defensive side as she concluded the game with a career high four steals.
TWU (14-3, 8-1) added to its win streak and recorded its fifth road win of the 2023-24 season with the victory over SEU (5-9, 2-5) on Saturday.
What seemed like a low-scoring affair from early struggles turned into another great defensive display from the Pioneers. TWU was just shy of forcing another 20 turnovers in this contest as the Pioneers finished with 12 steals, which led to 24 points on the other end.
The Pioneers won the turnover battle yet again by forcing 19 Hilltopper turnovers, and with the help of 24 bench points, TWU outlasted late scoring efforts by SEU.
High-percentage shots and success from three-point range gave the Pioneers the upper edge to secure the road win. TWU shot an efficient 61% from the field and 56% from behind the three-point line while keeping St. Edward's under 40% from the field and 16% from three.
Four Pioneers finished the game in double-digits, as Patel led the way with 24 points. Patel finished 9-12 from the field, 4-5 from three and contributed three boards and three assists.
Ashley Ingram was the second-leading scorer in this match-up, finishing with 15 points, six assists and five rebounds. Averee Kleinhans and Hines contributed 11 points each as Kleinhans added five rebounds and two steals to her stats, while Hines ended with four steals and two assists.
A 12-point home loss on Thursday against UT Tyler motivated St. Edward's to come out with a sense of urgency on both ends of the floor, as TWU saw themselves in another early 4-0 hole after three minutes of play in the first quarter. The Pioneers finally settled in and took its first lead, 7-6, before trading baskets with SEU.
After four ties and three lead changes, TWU started to play its style of basketball and got aggressive on offense to get to the free-throw line. The Pioneers made it to the line 10 times in the opening quarter, which allowed them to gain control of the game. Hines' quick spark off the bench led to a 9-2 finish in the first to head into the second quarter with a 22-13 lead.
In the second, scoring became easier for TWU with a couple of fast break buckets from Patel and Scout Huffman to take a solid 27-16 lead to start. Kelinhans' offense started to come alive along with Patel, who had an astonishing second quarter display.
Patel scored 10 of her 14 first half points in the second quarter alone to help TWU outscore SEU 20-12 to finish the half and reach a lead of as much as 21 points before going into halftime with a 47-28 edge.
St. Edwards came out of the break with a fire lit under them and slowed down the TWU scoring momentarily to go on a 12-5 run to start the second half and make it a 52-40 game at the 5:24 mark.
From that point, the Pioneers started clicking on offense again with a rain shower of threes and jumpers in response to the Hilltopers' run. As Patel continued to showcase her versatility on the offensive end, the bench of TWU contributed some quality minutes to give the Pioneers its largest lead of the game, 67-44, with just over a minute remaining in the third.
The Hilltoppers went on a 5-0 run to close out the quarter to make the game 67-49.
Both squads traded baskets and went on mini runs of their own in the fourth to keep the game within reach. The Pioneers then went on a 9-0 run to extend their lead to 81-58 with four minutes to play. TWU was able to outlast any late efforts by the Hilltoppers to secure the 83-64 conference win.
TWU improves to 14-3 on the season and 8-1 in conference.
The Pioneers have won the last six meetings between the two teams and are 5-3 all-time on the road against St. Edward's.
"We were very efficient from the floor tonight," TWU Head Coach Beth Jillson said. "Leila is such a versatile player and really showed it today with her ability to score at all three levels. Our bench also stepped up and gave us quality minutes and energy throughout the game."
Texas Woman's basketball is back in action next week at KMA on Thursday, Jan. 18, when they face LSC opponent Texas A&M - Kingsville on Pack the House night at 6 p.m.
-PIONEERS-
