SAN ANTONIO – The Angelo State women's basketball team held off a late rally by Missouri S&T by a score of 81-76 to remain undefeated on Friday at the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic.
"Tonight we played some of the best basketball we have played all year," ASU head women's basketball coach Kevin Baker said. "I'm so proud of them and the way we executed early. The second half was a challenge and I'm so glad we survived the momentum shift."
The Belles (3-0) had four players score in double figures and shot 46.3-percent from the field. Missouri S&T shot 51.8-percent from the field including 58.8-percet in the second half alone. ASU was able to score 22 points off 26 MST turnovers in the win. It is the third straight game for ASU to score at least 80 points and the first time since 2007-08.
KeAnna Kelly and Christina Robinson led the team with 16 points each. The duo each hit four 3-pointers and dished out two assists a piece. Brea Mitchell added 12 points and a team high seven rebounds and five assists. Diamalises Rivera scored 11 points and Jasmine Prophet recorded nine points.
The Belles jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter 24-11. The two teams were tied at four after a bucket from Prophet. Over the next eight minutes of the quarter ASU limited MS&T to just seven points. Nekeita Bailey and Kelly made back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 15-8. The Belles would end the quarter on a 9-3 run. The run was aided by 3-pointers from Kelly and Robinson.
A quick 9-2 run opened the second quarter as Robinson hit another 3-pointer and Taylor Dorsey scored on a layup after a steal from Mitchell to make it 35-13. The Miners was able to cut the deficit to 25-19 with six unanswered points. Mitchell and Dorsey answered with consecutive layups to push the lead to 20 at 39-19. The 20-point lead would be maintained into the break at 44-24.
ASU would open the third quarter outscoring MS&T 10-4 for a 54-28 advantage with 7:29 to play in the quarter. The Miners trimmed the lead to 60-40 with 3:22 to go in the quarter but back-to-back layups from Rivera made it 64-40. ASU would take a 68-47 lead into the fourth quarter.
Missouri S&T tried to rally in the fourth quarter outscoring the Belles 29-13 in the final period. The Miners cut the advantage to 15 points at 75-60 on a MS&T layup by Elsie Greenwood. Mitchell answered with a jumper twice to push the lead back to 17 points at 79-62 with under 3:20 to go. The Belles lead was trimmed to nine with 1:19 to go at 79-70 but a layup by Prophet extended it to 11 at 81-70. Missouri S&T would score the final six points of the game but were unable to catch the Belles for the final 81-76.
The Belles will face Arkansas Monticello tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. The game will be carried locally on 1260AM KKSA with Jeremy Bryant on the call.
