Women move to to 5-0 with 69-46 win over St. Edward’s

A&M-Commerce | Women’s Basketball

COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team extended its program-record season-opening win streak to five games, rolling to a 69-46 win over previously undefeated St. Edward's University in the Field House on Saturday evening.

The Lions are now 5-0 overall for the first time ever and have a 2-0 Lone Star Conference record, while the Hilltoppers fall to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in LSC play.

A&M-Commerce played Southeastern Oklahoma at home Tuesday night, and they play away at Northeastern State Saturday.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

The Lions made 11 more shots than SEU and shot 41.3% (26-of-63) from the field.

The interior play of A&M-Commerce was dominant, as the Lions held a 45-27 rebounding advantage with 17 offensive boards. The Lions scored 36 points in the paint and had 21 second chance points.

Alexis Bryant (Pflugerville) scored 14 points and had eight rebounds to lead the Lions.

Alexus Jones (Aledo) and Mykiel Burleson (Pflugerville) each scored nine points, with Burleson adding eight rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Neither team shot the ball particularly well in the first quarter, as it took over two minutes for a field goal attempt to find its target. St. Edward's led by two points with four and a half minutes to go when the Lions went on a seven-point run. Burleson scored the last five of those points and her three-pointer with two minutes left in the quarter gave the Lions a 12-7 lead. A&M-Commerce maintained that five-point lead into the first intermission at 14-9.

The Lions opened the second quarter on an 11-2 run to take their first double digit lead of the night in the first portion of the second quarter. Chania Wright (DeSoto), DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.), Jones, and Jocelyn Pierce (Argyle) scored interior baskets, and a three-pointer by Dyani Robinson (Cypress – Langham Creek) made it a 25-11 game at the 5:19 mark of the second quarter. SEU used a 10-0 surge to cut the lead back to four points, but a Jones three-point play and baskets in the paint by Burleson and Pierce allowed the Lions to close the half on a seven-point rally and take a 32-21 advantage into the locker room at the half.

The lead was not substantially extended by the Lions in the third quarter, as their largest lead was 14 points late in the period, but A&M-Commerce hit clutch baskets to quash Hilltopper attempted rallies. SEU cut the lead to eight but a six-point surge capped by Juliana Louis' (Long Beach, Calif.) putback had the Lions ahead 46-32.

St. Ed's cut the lead to single digits in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but eight straight Lion points put the game out of reach. Wright canned a three-pointer, followed by a pair of free throws and a triple from Jones to make it a 55-38 lead with 7:25 to play. Another six-point run ending on a Robinson fastbreak layup after a Louis steal pushed the lead to 21 points with five minutes to play, and the home team was able to maintain the sizeable advantage all the way to the final buzzer.