A&M-Commerce | Women's Basketball
COMMERCE – The No. 20 Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team faced a stern test in its first game as a nationally-ranked team in over 11 years, and the Lions showed their ranking was deserved, holding off No. 18 Southeastern Oklahoma State University by a 70-64 score in the Field House on Tuesday night.
The Lions extended their season-opening winning streak to six games and are 6-0 on the season. The Savage Storm falls to 4-1 overall with its first loss of the season.
A&M-Commerce will travel to Oklahoma this weekend, playing Northeastern State in Tahlequah at 2 p.m. Saturday.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the game went back and forth for the first four minutes, the Lions went on a big run to take a sizeable lead. Southeastern held a narrow 5-4 lead at the 6:17 mark, but A&M-Commerce scored the next 10 points and held the guests to five points in the rest of the period. Alexus Jones (Aledo) started the rally with a pair of free throws, followed by a three-point play by Bryant, a DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.0 three-pointer, and a Juliana Louis (Long Beach, Calif.) basket on the fast-break. The Lion lead would advance to as many as 15 points, and Dyani Robinson (Cypress - Langham Creek) scored four points in the final minute to give A&M-Commerce a 24-10 lead after 10 minutes.
Agang Tac (Sachse) drained a jumper on the first possession of the second quarter to put the Lions up 16, but Southeastern hit three-pointers on its next two shots to cut the advantage to 10 points at 26-16. A bucket by Wright and a pair of baskets by Glass would extend that lead back out to 16 points. Burleson's free throws at the 4:10 mark of the quarter gave the Lions their largest lead of the night at 36-18. The Storm would narrow that margin to 11 points, but A&M-Commerce was able to take a 40-28 lead into the intermission.
The lead stood at 15 points off of a Burleson three-pointer with 6:18 to play in the third quarter, but Southeastern scored six straight in the next minute and a half to get the lead back a single digit at 51-42. The Lions were able to get back ahead by double figures quickly and took a 57-45 lead into the final period of action. This response was aided by three long-range shots made in the quarter.
A&M-Commerce hovered around a 10-point lead for most of the fourth quarter, but the Storm pressured their way back into the game. The lead was still at 65-55 with 4:18 to go on a pair of Burleson free throws, but SEOSU made its next two shots to get its deficit back to six points at 65-50 with three minutes left. The lead shrank down to five points, but Glass was able to make a trio of free throws in the last minute to preserve the Lions' sixth win in a row.