SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State women's basketball team used a big first half to beat Midwestern State 85-68 at Stephens Arena in the Junell Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Belles are 11-5 overall and 4-2 in the LSC after outscoring the Mustangs (4-13, 3-4 LSC) 48-31. ASU dominated in the paint 40-22 and was able to score 18 second chance points. The Belles forced 16 turnovers while the bench contributed 27 points. The 50.7-percent shooting from the floor was the fifth best percentage of the season for ASU.

"We started out shooting the ball really well but we weren't really guarding well. In the second quarter we were able to guard better and increase our lead. Our team was resilient tonight. Midwestern State made a run and we were resilient coming up with big shots. It was impressive to see especially coming off that tough loss at Cameron."

Taylor Dorsey earned her third double-double of the season with 18 points and a team high 11 rebounds. The junior added four assists as well. Jasmine Prophet led ASU with 19 points. She was eight-of-nine from the floor. Brea Mitchell recorded her fifth straight game in double figures with 14 assists. She led the team with six assists and grabbed six rebounds. Lexi Murphy also scored in double figures with 11 points.

"Taylor (Dorsey) is a special player," Baker said. "At 5'-6" or 5'-7" to go out and get that many rebounds would surprise most but that is what she does every day. Our team really feeds off her energy and when she plays well, we play well."

The first six minutes of the game was tight. The Belles built leads of five and four but Midwestern State would tie it each time. The Mustangs tied the game at 15 with a three pointer from Whitney Taylor but a layup from Dorsey sparked the Belles. ASU would end the first quarter on a 12-2 run to go up 27-17 after the first quarter.

A Mitchell jumper opened the second quarter for the Belles. ASU would score 11 of the first 13 points in the second quarter to extend its lead to 38-19 capped off by a layup from Dorsey. MSU tried to answer with an 8-3 run to close it to 41-27 but a Natalie Quesnel jumper stopped the run. A 3-pointer from Murphy made it 46-27 and a layup seconds later, by the junior, made it 48-31 at the half.

The Belles hit 58.3-percent in the first half and forced 11 MSU turnovers.

ASU built its lead to 20 twice during the third quarter. A Dorsey free throw made it 51-31 at the 8:47 mark and a Prophet bucket in the pain pushed it to 58-38 with 5:35 to go in the third quarter. The Belles maintained a 67-51 advantage going into the fourth quarter. ASU pushed the lead to 21 four different times in the fourth quarter. Prophet and Murphy twice extended the advantage to 21 the last coming an 83-62 on a free throw from Murphy. Quesnel hit a pair of free throws for the final 85-68 score.

The Belles were able to outrebound MSU 40-37 with 13 coming on the offensive end. The 13 offensive rebounds makes the 13^th game with at least 10 offensive rebounds and the third in the last four games. The 18 ASU assists in the most since handing out 24 versus Texas A&M-Commerce.

ASU will have a quick turnaround with a game tomorrow Sunday, Jan. 24 at 2 p.m. against Texas Woman's.