The #8 Howard Payne Lady Jacket basketball team took the lead and never look back in a win 76-61 over #21 University of Texas at Dallas.

The win makes it six wins in a row for HPU to start the 2009-2010 season. Senior Elaine Hobbs led all scorers with 16 points, four steals, and seven rebounds.

The game didn’t see its first points scored until the 16:42 mark with both team playing solid defense. Howard Payne then started the scoring with a 7-0 run. UTD battled back to within two three times but HPU held a 27-21 halftime lead.
HPU women dominated the paint in the first half scoring 12 of their 27 under the basket to UT-Dallas’ 4 points in the paint.

The Lady Jackets shot 40 percent in the first half, on 9 of 22 shooting. The Lady Comets of UTD had a hard time shooting going 8-27 for 30 percent from the floor.

HPU women started the second half by doubling their lead with a 6-0 run, taking the score to 33-21. From that point, HPU slowly built their lead and never looked back, keeping their lead around 14 for most of the second half.

In the end the Lady Jackets scored 29 points off of 25 UTD turnovers. The HPU bench contributed 31 points to the Lady Jackets effort, 14 of those coming from Roshonda Gayden. She also added 8 rebounds and 3 steals, all coming in just 18 minutes of playing time.

HPU ended the game with 49 percent shooting, making 26 of 53 shots and 20 of 24 free throws. UTD straightened out their shooting problems in the second, making 50 percent of their shots, and 40 percent for the game.

Howard Payne moves to (6-0) on the year and (4-0) in the ASC. UTD drops to (5-2) overall and (3-1) in conference.

The next game for the Lady Jackets is Dec. 12 at home against Sul Ross State at 1pm.