Women’s Basketball Rolls By ETBU
February 16, 2008

The University of Texas at Tyler women’s basketball team picked up its ninth straight win on Saturday afternoon by downing East Texas Baptist, 101-80, at the Herrington Patriot Center. This year’s team has now tied the second longest winning streak in program history.

Early in the game, it looked as if the Lady Tigers would take the Patriots to the wire, opening the game on a 16 to 6 run. However, UT Tyler would answer with its own 21 to 6 run, overtaking ETBU and never looking back. The Patriots would go on to lead by as many as 35, in their second 100 plus point performance of the season. With the win, UT Tyler clinched at least a share of the 2007-2008 American Southwest Conference East Division Championship and has guaranteed itself a spot in the ASC Tournament in its first year of post-season eligibility.

Freshman Melissa Thomas (Austin, Texas) led the Patriots with 29 points, 25 of which came in the first half. Freshman Lindsay Eaton (Austin, Texas) followed Thomas with 25 points of her own. Senior Kasey Buggs (Lake Dallas, Texas) scored 21 points in her regular season Herrington Patriot Center finale, while sophomore Becky Taylor (New Caney, Texas) rounded out the four UT Tyler players in double digits with 16 points. Freshman Marci Trogus (Houston, Texas) pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds and sophomore Alyssa Ploof (Plano, Texas) had a game-high 11 assists. Ploof’s 11 assists tied a UT Tyler single game record. ETBU freshman Julie Bowman (Slocum, Texas) led all scorers with 39 points.

The win advances the Patriots’ overall record to 16-7 and their ASC East record to 13-5. Meanwhile, the Lady Tigers fell to 7-15 overall and 6-12 on the season.

UT Tyler will travel to Louisiana College on Thursday to play the first of its final two regular season games of the year. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.

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