Complete Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas – Four Lady Rams scored in double figures, but it wasn’t enough as Wesleyan fell to Jarvis Christian, 91-70 on Saturday night in Fort Worth.

The Lady Bulldogs quickly established a lead, hitting a pair of buckets in the opening minute. Shayla Coleman responded with a three-pointer for the Lady Rams, but it was matched by Melina Perea’s deuce and free throw on the next trip down.

Shawndrika Courtney began to find her touch after a pair of early misses, scoring the next four points for Wesleyan and closing the gap to 10-7. After another Bulldog basket, Valen Little sank her first three-pointer of the evening to cut the lead to two, but LaTasha Roach answered for Jarvis Christian, hitting a pair of jumpers to push the lead back to six.

Jarvis Christian slowly added to its lead over the next few minutes. Once it reached double digits, Marcella Smith got hot, knocking down consecutive three-pointers for the Lady Bulldogs. After a Wesleyan bucket, TyNesha Gregory hit another, and Jarvis opened up a huge lead. The Lady Rams closed the half strong, though. Stephanie Reder’s four points helped spark a 14-4 run over the final minutes to bring the score to 40-30 at the break.

The Lady Rams came out determined to make a game of it. Little and Kori Yates buried three-pointers in the opening minute of the second half, and Courtney provided the defense with two blocks at the other end, helping Wesleyan cut the lead to just four points after two minutes of play. Unfortunately for Wesleyan, Smith was still hot. Her three-pointer at 18:11 pushed the lead back to seven, and sparked a four-minute, 11-3 run for Jarvis that would extend the lead to 12.

The lead was still at 12, 61-49, as the clock rolled under ten minutes, and the Lady Bulldogs quickly added another four points on a lay-up and a pair of free throws.

The teams traded points evenly for two minutes, bringing the score to 71-54, before Jarvis Christian went on another run. Six straight points by the Lady Bulldogs pushed the lead over 20, and sealed the victory with five minutes remaining. Courtney scored six down the stretch for Wesleyan, but the Lady Bulldogs still took the game, 91-70.

Marcella Smith led the Lady Bulldogs with 25 points on ten of 18 shooting, including five of ten three-pointers. LaTasha Roach scored 16 and pulled down six rebounds, TyNesha Gregory scored 11 with six boards, and Melina Perea scored ten. LaTasha Banks led all players with eight rebounds.

For the Lady Rams, Courtney led with 20 points, hitting five of nine attempts from the floor and ten of 14 free throws. Stephanie Reder scored 12, Kori Yates had 11, and Valen Little finished with ten. Yates also dished out six assists. Kim Cooper led the squad in rebounds with six.

The Lady Rams drop to 8-16 on the season, 2-11 in Red River Conference play. They stay at home to face the Lady Wildcats of Wiley College on Monday night. Tip-off is at 5:30 PM.