LONGVIEW, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran women's basketball team defeated LeTourneau, 86-61, Saturday afternoon inside Solheim Arena in Longview, Texas.
Texas Lutheran took a four-point lead into halftime but came out of the break to outscore the Yellowjackets 26-12 in the third. The patented Bulldogs defense shined throughout, forcing 28 LeTourneau turnovers on Saturday that turned into 34 points for the Bulldogs.
Junior forward Sarahi Jones (Los Fresnos/Los Fresnos) led the Bulldogs scoring effort, pouring in 14 points on 43.8 percent shooting. Jones added four rebounds, two steals, and two blocks on Saturday. Through three games Jones has six blocks, nearly matching her season total from a season ago.
Lauren Sansano (San Antonio/FEAST) and Kayla Presley (Kyle/San Marcos) each finished with 13 point performances as Sansano shot 75-percent from the field while dishing out five assists while Presley was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. Angelina Sotelo (San Marcos/San Marcos) filled the stat sheet, recording 12 points with team-highs of six rebounds and a career-high six assists. Kailee Mulkey (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) was the final Bulldog in double figures, finishing with 11 points, six rebounds, and a career-high six steals.
The win would be the second straight wire-to-wire victory for the Bulldogs as they never trailed on Saturday. TLU would carry a 16-13 lead into the first media and lead 24-21 after the opening period. The two teams would stay relatively even as the Bulldogs were unable to pull away in the second quarter, taking a four-point, 38-34 lead into halftime. Presley led the Bulldogs with nine points in the first half.
LeTourneau would shrink the TLU lead to one point at the 8:04 mark in the third before the Bulldogs would go on a 24-7 run to close the quarter led by a combined 14 points from Sansano and Sotelo.
TLU outscored the Yellowjackets 22-15 in the fourth as they went on to win by 25 points.
Texas Lutheran finished the game with a 42-28 advantage on the glass, including an 18-9 mark in offensive boards. TLU would also hold a decisive advantage in points in the paint (52-30) and second chance points (21-10).
Next up, Texas Lutheran begins their three-game west coast road trip as they travel to Parkland, Washington, to face Pacific Lutheran in their first of three west coast matchups. Tip-off is set for 8 PM CST/ 6 PM PST. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.
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