BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Howard Payne University women's basketball team defeated #3 University of Texas at Tyler, 75-63 on Saturday afternoon in the Brownwood Coliseum.
Howard Payne (5-4) controlled the game from the get go and at one point held a 28 point lead with just over nine minutes left to go in the third quarter. UT-Tyler (5-2) kept fighting and put on a short rally in the final quarter to trim the deficit to 10 before the Yellow Jackets took control and pulled away with their third straight victory.
Valerie Matlock came just shy of a triple-double, collecting 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals to help build on her ASC leading 4.5 steals per game average (13th in the nation.) Sarahi Castillo also tied a career best with seven blocks while tallying 10 points and 14 rebounds.
In all, Howard Payne had four players reach double figures in scoring with Micah Cisneroz adding 15 points and Sabrina Ochoa adding ten to help lead the Yellow Jackets to a perfect 2-0 record to start American Southwest Conference play.
Howard Payne fell behind 7-2 to start the game but came back and took a one point lead, 10-9 after Valerie Matlock pulled down an offensive rebound and set herself up for an easy layup. The Yellow Jackets would never trail again in the game and ended the quarter up by 15 points, 28-13.
The second quarter went all Howard Payne's way, while holding the Patriots to 26% shooting, they were able to get a complete team effort on offense to cruise to a 47-24 lead at halftime. Matlock had already recorded seven points, seven rebounds and five steals by the end of the first half.
Micah Cisneroz opened up the third period with a jumper from distance and Djimonii Jackson followed it up with a layup off of an offensive rebound and the Yellow Jackets had built their largest lead of the game, 52-24. The Patriots kept fighting but never came within more than 19 points of the lead and trailed, 60-36 to start the games final period.
Yellow Jackets had substituted the majority of their starters out of the game by about the seven minute mark, allowing for UT-Tyler to trim the lead to something a little more respectable in the final period. The Patriots offense began attacking the paint and received some easy layup's while picking up some free throws along the way.
They trimmed the lead to 10 with just 33 seconds left in the game before Presley McKethan drew contact, got to the foul line and made both of her free throws to give Howard Payne the 75-63 victory in the final seconds. The Yellow Jackets managed to hold the Patriots to 34% shooting and 26% shooting from beyond the arc to help deliver the win.
The Lady Jackets will now head back out on the road to face East Texas Baptist (0-6) on Saturday, December 10th at 1:00 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
