The women’s basketball team continued their strong start to the season Tuesday night, defeating the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles 68-47 in their opening game of the Hardwood Tournament of Hope in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 

The Frogs (4-1) were led by junior guard Natalie Ventress and junior forward Chelsea Prince, who scored 14 and 12 respectively. 

Ventress’ 14 were a season-high, and tied a career-high rebound total with 9 boards on the night. Prince came off the bench to drop her season-high 12 points to go with two assists and a block. 

After a closely contested first few minutes, Prince scored a quick four points to spark a 15-5 Horned Frog run that gave the team a 16-11 lead. 

Junior guard Donielle Breaux hit a timely three-pointer and sophomore guard Veja Hamilton dropped in a last-second layup to stake the Frogs to a 27-16 half-time advantage. 

The Eagles (3-2) failed to threaten in the second half, only cutting the lead down to 12 with back-to-back threes with just over four minutes remaining in the game. 

Florida Gulf Coast’s Whitney Knight led all scorers on the night with 21 points.

The Frogs continued to dominate the glass in the early season, out-rebounding the Eagles 44-22. The team has out-rebounded each of their first five opponents, compiling a plus 11.6 margin on the boards. 

The Frogs take on their next tournament opponent, South Dakota State, Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.