Playing without star post Alee McClendon, who injured her knee over the weekend, the No. 11 Stephenville Honeybees answered every Cooper run with one of their own Tuesday to score a 54-40 road win over the Lady Cougars.

After seeing a 16-7 first-quarter lead trimmed to four points at halftime, Stephenville opened the third quarter with a 6-0 spurt and absorbed one final Cooper rally to improve to 15-4 on the season.

Sophomore guard Jaylee Matthews led the Honeybee effort in McClendon’s absence, hitting four of her team’s eight 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 17 points.