MARSHALL, Texas – The Howard Payne University women's basketball team defeated East Texas Baptist University, 90-72 on Saturday afternoon at Ornellas Gym to collect their fourth consecutive victory. 

Presley McKethan finished with 14 points and seven steals while Valerie Matlock chipped in 12 points and six assists as the Jackets used a stingy full court defense to force 17 steals and 32 turnovers to help pick up the win. 

Sarahi Castillo had 22 points while going 2-3 from beyond the arc and Dominique Featherstone had a season high 10 points on 3-4 shooting to help the Jackets run away with the 18 point result. Jada Evans finished with 10 points on perfect 4-4 shooting and Micah Cisneroz added nine points, seven rebounds and three blocks. 

Howard Payne (6-4) fell behind by seven, 12-5 in the early minutes of the game before installing a full court defense that gave the Tigers (0-8) problems all day. After back-to-back three pointers from Presley McKethan, the Jackets were able to retake a three point lead, 15-12 with 1:36 remaining in the first period. 

Djimonii Jackson and McKethan would hit two more three pointers before the end of the first quarter to give Howard Payne a 12 point lead, 24-12. The Jackets would never again trail in the game and led by as many as 19 points in the second quarter to take a 52-38 lead into halftime. 

Howard Payne scored the first three buckets of the second half to increase their lead to 20 points before the Tigers were able to register their first field goal in the half. They were never able to get closer than 11 points the rest of the period as Sarahi Castillo started finding her shot from the outside and the Jackets began to cruise. 

HPU held a 73-58 lead to begin the fourth period before they began to receive contributions from nearly the entire team. The Yellow Jackets would end up having 14 players score in the game and they were able to build a 23 point lead with 3:40 left in the game after Jada Evans finished a layup at the rim. 

The Lady Jackets held the Tigers to 40% shooting from the field and 2-10 from three to run away with the 90-72 victory. They had 20 assists, 22 fast break points and 38 points off of turnovers to help seal their 4-0 conference start. 

Howard Payne is now 6-4 on the season and will now return home to play host to the University of the Ozarks on Thursday, December 15th at 5:00 pm. Live stats and video will be available on HPUSports.com and keep up with the Yellow Jackets on Twitter and Instagram by following @HPUSports