The USW Women's Basketball Program took to the road over the weekend for two conference matchups against the Jarvis Christian Bulldogs and the Wiley College Wildcats. The Mustangs defeated Jarvis on Thursday night by the score of 76-63 and lost to Wiley on Saturday night by the score of 71-63. 
 
The victory over Jarvis on Thursday night marks the Mustangs 2^nd win in conference this season and 5^th victory of the year. This win already surpasses the win total from last year with 9 games still left to go on the season. 
 
The Mustangs were led on Thursday night by Freshman forward Meredith Keasler who scored 18 points on 7 of 8 shooting. Kealser also contributed 3 rebounds and was 4-6 from the charity stripe. 18 points sets a new career high for Keasler who scored 10 points against Paul Quinn on December 8^th
 
USW also got strong contributions from Sophomore Forward Harlei Haceesa who scored 15 points and grabbed 3 rebounds and Senior Guard Desiree Garza who had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. 
 
Coach Cory Hitchcock was very proud of the ladies after the game Thursday, especially with their defense, "The girls did a great job defensively. We started out in man to man and struggled in our rotation. So we changed things up to our 1-3-1 zone and dared them to shoot from outside and they struggled with that. It allowed us to get some easy transition buckets.". 
 
The Lady Mustangs started the game down 11 at one point, but went to the locker room up 15 at halftime. Coach Hitchcock said that basketball is all about the runs and he is glad that the ladies withstood them. "We got away from what we were doing successfully there in the 4^th quarter, and let them go on a little run there at the end." 
 
Saturday night was a different story however as the Lady Mustangs allowed 26 offensive rebounds and had 25 turnovers as a team. "When you give up 26 offensive rebounds and they convert 20 of those, that equals 40 points, to go along with 25 turnovers, makes it tough to win. We had a chance in the game, but we had to take care of what we talked about pregame." 
 
USW had 3 players in double figures as Mykal Thomas led the way with 18 points which is a new season high for the Junior Forward from San Diego, CA. 
 
"When you lose a game like that it's tough because we know we had a chance to win. It would have been a huge game for us to pull away on the road, considering the program has never defeated Wiley on the road." Coach Hitchcock had to say about the road loss. 
 
The Lady Mustangs are back at home this week as they take on Texas College on Thursday night at 5:30 and play Paul Quinn College on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm right here at the Maddox Student Life Center.