LAS VEGAS - No. 10 Tiger Women's Basketball claims victory in the final game of the D3hoops Classic with an 83-74 win over Framingham State. 
 
The Tigers picked up a win after dropping three straight. The Tigers were led by Jaime Ruede (Pipe Creek, Texas / Boerne) who had 18 points on 6-14 shooting (4-9 3PT) and five rebounds. Kylie Minter (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) would put in 15 points on 3-4 shooting from deep. As a team, the Tigers would shoot 19-21 from the charity stripe.   
 
The Rundown
 
The Tigers first quarter got off to a relatively slow start but Elaine King (Cedar Park, Texas / Cedar Park) would put in the first points for the Tigers, knocking down one of two free throws. The Tigers would follow that up with an Elaine King block, followed by a pull-up swish dropped in by Bailey Timmons (Argyle, Texas / Argyle. Both teams would stay in the single digits until it was time for Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Oregon / Valley Catholic) to rain down a tree, making it 10-8 with three minutes left in the quarter. The rest of the quarter would be slow offensively but when Skye O'Rourke (Austin, Texas / Vandergrift) put in both free throws, the first quarter would end 12-12.
 
In the second quarter, the Tiger offense was ready to play. Napoli would put in an easy lay and then Jamie Ruede would follow that up with back-to-back three-pointers from the wing to give the Tigers the lead 20-15. Framingham would put in a three but Timmons would respond with one of her own to get the Tiger bench roaring. A quick 7-point run by Framingham would give them the lead but it would be negated by two threes in a row for number 3 Kylie Minter to close out the half for the Tigers and send them into the locker room with a 36-31 lead. 
 
The Tigers would get their second-half scoring started with Natalie Greenwood (Roanoke, Texas / Byron Nelson) sinking two free throws. The Tigers were crashing the offensive boards hard with three offensive rebounds in a row until Greenwood would sink a layup to extend the Tiger lead to eight. Framingham was getting their offense going but the Tigers were ready to strike back with Napoli hitting a three… and then another. Head Coach Cameron Hill was ecstatic as Napoli ran down the sideline with three fingers in the air. The Tigers and Rams would trade buckets for the next three minutes but the Tigers would go into the final quarter up 62-48. 
 
Another offensive rebound by the Tigers followed by a three-pointer would get the final quarter of action started. However, Framingham would go on a big 10-point run to close the gap to single digits late in the game. The Rams would make a huge mistake by fouling Timmons on the free throw line as the shot clock expired to send her to the line and Timmons would sink all three to put the Tiger lead back to 11. That lead extension is just what the Tigers needed to dribble out the clock and take the win 83-74. 

Coach Speak

"Seattle. Christmas. Vegas. Injury. Injury. Injury. New player. No practice, just travel and games," said Head Coach Cameron Hill. "I feel like Tin Cup when he holed out for a twelve at the Open. Couldn't be happier. ONWARD!!!"
 
Up Next - Back In the 210 
 
The Tigers will head back home to Calgaard Gymnasium to play against Schreiner on January 2nd.