The No. 10 Howard Payne Lady Jacket basketball team held off a late LeTourneau University rally and posted a 58-51 win at Solheim Arena on Saturday.
Howard Payne (3-0, 1-0) opened the game on a 16-5 run, capped by a Roshonda Gayden jumper with 12:48 remaining in the first half. LeTourneau stormed back, cutting the deficit to 16-13 after a jumper by Kayla Kerns with 9:44 left.
HPU again jumped back to a double-digit advantage, 24-13, with a layup by Katy Sarem with 6:47 left, but again LeTourneau rallied, cutting the margin to 30-27 right before halftime.
LeTourneau was 9-of-27 (33 percent) in the opening half from the floor and 7-of-8 from the foul line. Howard Payne was 12-of-33 (36 percent) and 4-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Howard Payne raced out in the second half to 41-31 advantage with 14:39 remaining, but like it did the whole game, LeTourneau battled back, cutting the deficit to 49-45 after a jumper by McCamey with 5:26 left.
A 3-pointer by Kayla Kerns trimmed the margin to 54-51 with 1:04 left, but Howard Payne closed out the game with a 3-pointer by Sarem and a free throw by Brittany Zamora to hold for a 58-51 victory.
Alexis Popelar led LeTourneau (0-3 overall, 0-1 ASC) with 15 points and nine rebounds. April McCamey added 12 points as LeTourneau was 18-of-55 (33 percent) from the floor and 10-of-16 (63 percent) from the free-throw line.
Hope Hohertz paced Howard Payne with 15 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Howard Payne was 24-of-65 (37 percent) shooting and 6-of-15 (40 percent) from the foul line.
Howard Payne will travel on to Marshall, Texas to play East Texas Baptist University on Monday at 5:30 pm.
