Box Score

MARSHALL, Texas – The East Texas Baptist University Women’s Basketball team closed their season in the NCAA DIII Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament First Round after a 62-59 loss to Texas Lutheran Friday night in Marshall.

Texas Lutheran jumped to a 7-4 lead before Jayla Hall ended a four-minute scoring drought with a layup to cut the gap to one. The Bulldogs responded with seven unanswered points to pull away and closed the quarter ahead 19-10.

The second quarter played even until the 4:24 mark when a Madison Hurta jumper sparked a nine-point run to give the Tigers a 24-23 advantage. The contest saw two more tied scores before a Bulldog jumper put them ahead 28-26 going into halftime.

The Bulldogs used nine unanswered points at the start of the second half to reestablish a lead. ETBU got the margin down to one with a pair of three-pointers from Hannah Ayala and a jumper from Payton Hicks. Texas Lutheran slowly chipped away, closing the third up 52-42.

Texas Lutheran created a lead as large as 14 to start the fourth quarter, but the Tigers responded with an 11-point run to cut the gap to 3 at the 3:26 mark. A Madison Hurta layup created a one-point game before Payton Hicks free throws tied it 59-59 with 37 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs hit a layup and free throw in the final 20 seconds to seal the win.
 
Payton Hicks led ETBU with 19 points while Madison Hurta recorded 12 points. Tristan Smith led with eight rebounds and Kadia Ward totaled seven boards and four steals.

ETBU closed their season with a 23-5 overall record after going 8-0 in ASC action. The Tigers earned the ASC Champion title and the ASC Regular Season Champion title in the 2024-25 campaign.