FORT WORTH – Texas Wesleyan Women's Basketball (7-9, 5-3 SAC) shook off a two-game slide with a dominant 80-49 victory over Central Christian (2-12, 1-6 SAC) Thursday night at the Sid Richardson Center.
 
Kyla Grant tied her season high with 18 points and now has scored 52 points in her last three contests. She's shot at least 50 percent in all three games and hit on 6-of-8 shots against Central Christian. She also contributed six rebounds, three assists and two steals in just 21 minutes, pulled due to the rout that ensued in the second half.
 
Up 40-19 at the break, Texas Wesleyan reached another gear in the third frame. The Lady Rams scored ten of the first 14 points in the third, getting contributions from four different players: Grant, Nicole Gleason, Evie Whorley and Crystal Ngawuchu. Lexi Burns hit a three with 6:33 to play in the third and just like that, the advantage had ballooned to 32, 55-23.
 
The Tigers couldn't hit a thing in the first half. Central Christian, 22nd in the NAIA in three pointers made per game (7.5) was just 3-for-15 from deep, going a miserable 2-of-17 from the floor, 0-for-9 from downtown in the first ten minutes. Central Christian's leading scorer coming in – Piper Kalthoff, 17 points per game, didn't score until late in the fourth quarter and shot just 1-of-8 for two points.
 
14 different players scored for the Lady Rams including Tomi Sanchez for the first time this season. The senior guard had missed her previous six shots as she is working her way back from injury, but finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. She averaged 7.8 points in her first year with TXWES, nailing 45.7 percent of her shots from long distance.
 
Lorian Benjamin got the team going early. She sprung off the bench to score six points in the first quarter, leading all scorers at the time. She finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four steals. Gleason turned in her second-straight game with single-digit points, but played well-rounded and selfless basketball to the tune of five points, seven boards, four assists, three blocks and three steals. She had just eight blocks before tonight's block party.
 
The Lady Rams owned the glass with 18 offensive rebounds which led to 13 second-chance points. Their 25 points off of 23 turnovers was a plus, too. Central Christian came into the game ninth in the nation in steals, averaging 13.5 per contest, settling for 11 as TXWES repeatedly broke their press.
 
It's the third time this season Texas Wesleyan has held an opponent under 50. The Rams did that four times two years ago when the squad finished 18-12. TXWES is now 3-0 against Central Christian since the programed joined the Sooner.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Texas Wesleyan – now positioned fourth in the SAC – welcome in Langston Saturday at 2 p.m., who is coming off a loss to SAGU Thursday. Langston (7-8, 2-5 SAC) has fallen into ninth place in the conference and has lost four of their last five.