FORT WORTH - Texas Wesleyan Women's Basketball (1-2) raced out to a 15-point lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back in a 71-51 victory over Arlington Baptist (0-4) Tuesday night at the Sid Richardson Center in the Lady Rams' home opener.

Texas Wesleyan wasted no time pulling ahead, scoring 10 points in the first two minutes, including two threes and two easy layups in transition off of steals. TXWES scored the next eight points balooning the advantage to 15 points, 18-3, which they held through the rest of a 25-point first quarter.

After the first frame, it felt like the same game was playing out over and over again. Arlington Baptist would go on a run and then the Lady Rams would quickly recover. The Patriots started the second quarter on a 6-2 run, only to surrender an 11-3 run over the next 5:29 - Texas Wesleyan's lead 38-19. Arlington Baptist then went on an 11-2 run, slicing the deficit back to 10, 40-30. The Rams repsonded with a 10-0 run over the next 3:21 - the lead is now 20, 50-30.

The Patriots make one final push, cutting the game to a 14-point margin, 54-40 with 0:15 to go in the third. With 3:21 left to play, the Lady Rams had widen the gap to 20 points again, 67-47 - eventually winning ... by 20.

Texas Wesleyan's successful attempts to thwart a comeback came from a number of contributors. Jordan Brightwell hauled in an impressive statline: 15 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals. Nicole Gleason scored 17 points on five made three-pointers. Despite early foul trouble Evie Whorley scored 13 points adding 5 steals, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Arlington Baptist went to a press after falling behind and got even more aggressive with it in the second half, disguising traps at mid-court and showing man-to-man defense full-court, then trapping from behind. That method caused some chaos, but the Patriots were only able to score 13 points off of 19 forced turnovers. On the other side, the Lady Rams' active hands collected 14 steals to score 18 points off takeaways, many easy transition layups - just as the opening two minutes foreshadowed.

The Lady Rams shot 61 percent in both the first and fourth quarters.

BLOCK PARTY
The six blocks were the most in a game since the seven Texas Wesleyan had against Central Christian January 4. TXWES had seven blocks the last time they faced the Patriots, January 23, 2017.

STINGY DEFENSE: A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
In three-straight games to start the season, the Lady Rams have not allowed more than 70 points, four if including their exhibition at Tarleton State. In 2017-2018, Texas Wesleyan started the season with four-straight NAIA games giving up less than 70. TXWES was 7-4 last season when holding opponents under 70, 2-15 when they didn't.

WHAT'S NEXT
Texas Wesleyan is back on the road for two games in the Comfort Inn/Ashbrook Classic in Wichita Falls Friday November 16 and Saturday November 17. TXWES will face host Midwestern State Friday and then take on Newman University Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. The women won't return home until conference play begins Thursday November 29 against Bacone.