LONGVIEW – The YellowJackets made certain of this one.

LeTourneau University's women's basketball team overwhelmed a shorthanded Blackburn Sunday in the LETU Holiday Classic finale, 84-53. It was the YellowJackets' second win in the past three games. They dropped the first game of the holiday tournament in a closely-contested eight-point verdict to Benedictine on Saturday.

"You're always happy after a game like that," third-year coach Cassi Rozanski said. "We wanted to come out and really pressure them on the defensive end in hopes of forcing a lot of turnovers, and that we did. We still have to shoot the ball better, but I'm proud of the girls today, and to bounce back from a tough loss last night and take care of business today is always good."

LETU (4-5) forced 21 turnovers, and had 16 steals for the second straight game, including a season-high four by Scruffy Hopkins. The YellowJackets committed a season-low eight turnovers.

LeTourneau raced out to a 9-0 lead, and never looked back. Keauna Whitfield scored seven of the first nine points in a game the Jackets never trailed.

"I just knew I had to step up and be a leader," Whitfield said after finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and a steal. "After yesterday, we all tried our hardest. After seeing them play yesterday, we just knew we had to come in and give everything that we had."

Kyndall Hardeman scored on a layup, and Vanessa Cruz buried a three-pointer in a 20-second span at the end of the first period to put the Jackets up, 22-6. Whitfield knocked down a jumper with 3:42 remaining in the first half to make it 32-13. Jordan McClenton's bucket on an assist from Ty Moon left LeTourneau in front by 18 in the last minute of the half before Blackburn's Maria Cline sank a pair of free throws to make it 39-23 at the intermission.

Whitfield scored 11 of her 16 points, and Moon seven of her nine in the first half. The YellowJackets outrebounded the Beavers, 35-24, in the first half.

"It's different to have a lot of girls that are all willing to work together, and all put in the same amount of effort to get better," Whitfield said. "It's a different kind of talent. We all work together, and work kind of better together. At the beginning of the year, we all came together as one family, and that made it pay off now."

Micayla Mikulski's 3-pointer 3:45 into the second half stretched the YellowJackets' lead to 53-30. Bailey Lightfoot canned one of her three triples at the 3:06 mark in the third quarter to pad the lead to 26, and the rout was on.

"We've got a different mindset this year, which is good," Rozanski said. "We are fighting. We still have to figure out or fix some things where we don't lose a lead or get down like we did yesterday, but they did fight back (against Benedictine), and I'm proud of them for that. With this team and all the new kids, every single day we've just got to keep getting better and keep figuring it out, and we should be where we want to be at the end."

Lightfoot finished with 11 points and a steal. Mikulski had 10 points, six boards and three steals. McClenton added six points, six rebounds, a block and a steal in 10 minutes. Hopkins grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end, while scoring four points. Whitfield had six offensive boards.

The YellowJackets outrebounded the Beavers, 68-40, grabbing a season-high 35 on the offensive glass. They matched a season-best 11 three-pointers, and dished out a season-high 23 assists.

Cline had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Savannah Kruse 12 points and eight boards for Blackburn.

LeTourneau will open American Southwest Conference play at McMurry on Thursday.

"We've got lots of work to get after tomorrow," Rozanski said, "but we can do it."

LETU Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team
MVP – Kendrick Clark, ETBU
Allison Michalski, Benedictine
Keauna Whitfield, LETU
Kim Childress, ETBU
Micayla Mikulski, LETU
Savannah Kruse, Blackburn