The 2025-26 college basketball regular season for the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets and Lady Jackets officially tipped off over the weekend, with a pair of doubleheaders Friday and Saturday at the Brownwood Coliseum.
Yellow Jacket fifth-year head coach Nadir Dalleh’s squad is picked to place second in the American Southwest Conference after their first conference tournament victory in 10 years last season, and collected a pair of comfortable wins to start the season.
Meanwhile, the Lady Jackets split their first two games under the direction of new head coach Rodney Gee.
In Friday’s 106-96 victory over Schreiner for the Yellow Jackets, the game was tied at 47 at halftime but Howard Payne put 59 points on the board over the final 20 minutes.
Behind 51 percent shooting (39 of 76) and 13 three-pointers, Howard Payne was led by 22 points from Armonie Ramey, 16 from Trey Jackson, 15 from Avant Coleman, 14 from Ben Phillip, 11 points each from Jordan McClendon and Jamie Puentes, and 10 points from Nathan Scott.
The Yellow Jackets followed their opening win with a 99-90 decision over Texas Lutheran Saturday evening.
Trailing 69-68 with 10:55 to go, Howard Payne scored nine of the next 11 points to open a 77-71 advantage at the 6:45 mark and never looked back.
Howard Payne knocked down 48 percent (34 of 71) of its shots and committed just 11 turnovers, while TLU gave away the ball 17 times which led to 18 Yellow Jacket points.
Ramey and Phillip poured in 20 points each to lead the Jackets, followed by 16 from Jackson, 15 from Coleman, 11 from McClendon and 10 points from Braylon Crosby.
In the Lady Jackets’ 69-52 win over Schreiner Friday, Howard Payne trailed 15-13 after one quarter but grabbed a 34-25 halftime lead that grew over the final two frames.
Howard Payne shot 45 percent (23 of 51) from the field as Caitlyn Panuco paced the Lady Jackets with a team-high 18 points and nine rebounds. Caitlyn Parsons chipped in 12 points and seven boards, Taylor McAfee contributed 10 points, and Amaris Ambriz finished with nine points.
In a 72-52 loss to Texas Lutheran Saturday afternoon, the Lady Jackets shot just 33 percent (19 of 57) from the floor and were outrebounded, 49-35.
Parsons paced Howard Payne with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Ambriz also finished in double figures with 10 points. Azaylee Santos chipped in nine points as well.
Both the Lady Jackets and Yellow Jackets are back in action Monday with another doubleheader at the Brownwood Coliseum against McMurry, starting at 5 p.m.
