Gleason Post-Game Interview (video)

HOUSTON – Freshmen Devyn Weymouth, Shanice Steenholdt and Tayler Jefferson combined for 40 of the Huskies' 75 points, as Houston Baptist defeated visiting Abilene Christian, 75-67, in exhibition play before a sellout crowd at Sharp Gym Friday evening.

Weymouth, named the player of the game, scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. She was 13-of-16 from the charity stripe and had four assists. Steenholdt finished with 16 points and was tied for second with six rebounds, with Joselyn Pugh. Jefferson scored 14 points. Destini Texada had a game-high eight steals.

Abilene Christian was led by Mack Langford with 19 points, followed by Cecilee Perez with 10. Four players had a team-high four rebounds, while Renata Marquez had four steals.

HBU scored six of the game's first eight points, with layups by Jefferson and Steenholdt, and two free throws by Weymouth. ACU game back to tie the game at six, and again at eight, before the Huskies went on a 6-0 run, forcing the Wildcats to take a timeout, trailing 14-8. The run ended with a steal by Weymouth followed by a three by Steenholdt.

ACU went on a little run, cutting the deficit to just one, 14-13, before a successful three-pointer by Maisie Elston gave the hosts a four-point lead with 10:43 left in the first half. ACU came back to tie the game at 17-all following a layup by Emily Miller, but HBU went on a 10-0 run to lead by its biggest margin thus far in the game, 27-17, as Brittany Barton and Weymouth hit back-to-back threes in the run.

After a basket by Langford ended the run, HBU continued to roll, going on an 8-3 run to end the half, as Steenholdt hit a jumper as time expired and the Huskies leading at the break, 35-22.

ACU started the second half on a 7-2 run, ended with a three by Langford, resulting in an HBU timeout, with 18:12 remaining in the game. Following the timeout, the Huskies scored the next four points, increasing their lead to 13, at 42-29, as Steenholdt hit a jumper.

The next two ACU possessions resulted in a steal by Weymouth and a block by Steenholdt. HBU increased its lead to its largest of the night at 15, 46-31 with 14:40 remaining in the game, as Weymouth hit two free throws and Texada had a layup.

The Wildcats went on a 9-2 run in a span of two minutes, to cut the Husky lead to eight, 48-40. Emily Miller had four points and the run ended on a three-pointer by Langford.

HBU scored the next six points to increase its lead to 54-40, before ACU hit two straight three-pointers to cut the lead to eight, at 54-46, with 8:59 remaining.

The final eight minutes of the game did not change much, as the largest lead for HBU was 12 and the closest ACU got was eight.

HBU will begin the 2011-12 regular season at Iowa State on Fri., Nov. 11 at 7 pm. This will mark the first-ever meeting between HBU and ISU, as Iowa State reached the NCAA Tournament last season.