BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Concordia women's basketball team rallied from 14 points down in the second half to defeat Howard Payne 75-71 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Jaela Dejean had a career-high 32 points to lead the Tornados (11-7, 4-5 ASC), 21 of those points came in the second half, and went 12-13 from the free-throw line. Brenisha Payne also scored a career-high 22 points, with 19 of them coming in the second half too. CTX outscored the Yellow Jackets (11-8, 8-2) 48-32 in the paint and did not hit a three-pointer in a game for the first time all season.
 
In the first quarter, the Tornados struggled early as HPU went on a 14-2 run to take an 18-6 lead with 3:19 left. Dejean was able to get the layup to go and cut the lead to 23-13 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, CTX would outscore the Yellow Jackets 18-8, as they went down by as much as 13. Dejean would score seven of her 11 first half points in the quarter and the Tornados scored 14 points in the paint compared to HPU's two as it was 31-31 at the half.
 
The Yellow Jackets began the third quarter on a 16-4 run to take a double-digit lead at 47-35 with 4:18 left. Dejean would close the gap as she scored five straight points including an and-one to cut it to 47-44 with 1:58 left in the quarter and CTX trailed 51-46 heading towards the final quarter.
 
The Tornados opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run capped by Payne's layup to take their first lead of the day. Tied up at 70 all with 1:36 remaining, Payne would give CTX the lead for good with her layup plus the free-throw as the Tornados went on to win 75-71 to hand HPU only their second conference loss of the season.
 
CTX outscored the Yellow Jackets 29-20 in the fourth quarter as they shot 76.9 percent from the field and 9-11 from the charity stripe. Emily Cullers finished the game with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
 
The Tornados will now return to Concordia Fieldhouse to host McMurry Thursday, Jan. 26, at 5:30 p.m.