In what marked their first official American Southwest Conference basketball game of the season, the Howard Payne Lady Jackets shaved an 18-point deficit down to a single bucket but could not complete the comeback as the undefeated East Texas Baptist Lady Tigers prevailed with a 69-63 victory Saturday afternoon at the Brownwood Coliseum.

The loss halted a three-game win streak for the Lady Jackets (3-4, 0-1), while East Texas Baptist – under the direction of head coach Blake Arbogast, a former Yellow Jacket, and assisted by Jordan Young, an ex-Yellow Jacket player and assistant men’s coach – improved to 14-0 overall and 6-0 against league foes.

“I thought we took a step in the right direction today,” said Lady Jackets head coach Yannick Denson. “We played a very talented team in ETBU, and big shout out to Blake and JY over there, they’re doing a great job with them. We showed fight and grit in the second half. I’ve never seen it when you shoot a better field goal percentage than the other team but lose the game. Normally if you shoot a higher field goal percentage you win.”

The Lady Jackets converted 43 percent (23 of 54) of their field goals and 29 percent (7 of 24) of their three-pointers, but just 50 percent (10 of 20) of their free throws. HPU was outrebounded 44-36 which led to an ETBU edge in second-chance points, 27-12. The Lady Jackets also committed 23 turnovers but forced 22.

Bria Neal and Chelsey Harris paced Howard Payne with 18 and 15 points, respectively, followed by seven each from Salina Ali and Amanda Turpin, five from Lily Janek, four from Mallory Garcia, three from Payge Grable and two points apiece from Delaney Ingram and Kendra Brown.

“We got good performances from our two studs today, Chelsey Harris and Bria Neal,” Denson said. “We had some freshmen turn the ball over today and that hurt us, so they have to learn that and the only way you learn is to play. We’ll move past it, move on and get ready for next week.”

ETBU drained 42 percent (24 of 64) of its shots, 33 percent (9 of 27) of its treys – including 3 of 4 in the fourth quarter – and 60 percent (12 of 20) of its free throws.

Kaia Williams poured in 15 points, Kenidi White tacked on 11 and Mallory Stephens finished with 10 points.

Trailing 21-9 after one quarter and 37-19 with 2:45 left in the first half, HPU faced a 39-26 deficit at halftime. Still down 55-43 after three quarters, the Lady Jackets reeled off the first 10 points of the fourth period to close the gap to 55-53.

Howard Payne began the final quarter with a three-point play by Neal, followed by a layup from Ali, a three-pointer from Harris, and another jumper from Harris off an assist from Ali, who made a steal near midcourt.

A 4:01 scoring drought ended for ETBU with 6:08 left in the game when Hannah Hudson sank a trey to boost the lead to 58-53.

Down 60-53, HPU crept within four points, 60-56, on a trey by Turpin, but Grace Stephens answered with a three-pointer on the other end for the Lady Tigers, whose lead stood at 63-56 with 3:29 left.

The Lady Jackets again closed the gap to four points, 65-61, on a three-pointer by Grable with 2:49 remaining, but got no closer.

“They made big-time shots when they needed them and we didn’t,” Denson said. “We did make some big-time shots, but they made real critical ones. When you’re playing with the lead it’s different from playing from behind and you have to have the comfort and confidence to sit on your shot and then drill it.

“But team morale improved for us today. For us to have only played seven games so far and our first conference game we give them a run like that at our place, all I can tell the rest of the conference is when you come here it’s not going to be easy.”

The Lady Jackets’ Thursday conference game at UT-Dallas has been postponed as HPU’s next action is currently slated for 1 p.m. Saturday at Ozarks (0-6, 0-6), which fell in overtime to Louisiana College, 84-75, Saturday.