Box Score

Season Stats

LAS VEGAS, N.M.– A season-high 26 points and 11 rebounds from senior Chontiquah White and 16 points in the second half from senior Ariel Robertson sparked West Texas A&M to an 84-73 victory Wednesday evening.  With the win, the Lady Buffs improved to 1-1 on the year, while NMHU fell to 0-1.
 
"Something clicked tonight, I'm not sure what it was in the second half," head coach Mark Kellogg said. "We are not committing to the defensive end yet and we need to work on that.  We have a long way to go, but it was certainly nice to get the first one.  I thought we got out of the gate great early, but I would like to see us sustain it as we have lulls and we need to get to the point of sustaining the success."
 
In a hard-fought game that saw four ties and six lead changes as the Lady Buffs had three in double digits with White and Robertson and junior Michaela Neuhaus had 11 points on 4 of 9 from the field with a triple and two free throws.  White went 7 of 12 from the field and 12 of 14 from the line, while Robertson was 6 of 7 and 4 of 4 from the line with all but two points coming in the second half.
 
NMHU was led by four players in double figures with 18 points from Jenny Johnson.  The Lady Buffs improved statistically from Friday, shooting 48.2 percent on 27 of 56 from the field, but still struggled a bit from beyond the arc (5 of 13) and from the line 25 of 35 in a game that saw 48 total fouls and 68 total free throws.
 
The Cowgirls shot 41.3 percent on 19 of 46.  They were 9 of 22 from beyond the arc and 26 of 33 from the line.  WT led a 36-29 lead in rebounding and dominated points in points off turnovers (17-8) and points in the paint (40-12).
 
The Lady Buffs jumped out an early eight point lead, but the Cowgirls battled back as Jenny Johnson gave NMHU a 21-20 lead with nine minutes left in the half, but it was short lived as White scored her 12^th point of the half off her fourth rebound for a 22-21 lead moments later.
 
A triple from Guilia Simioni broke a 26-26 tie with seven minutes left in the first half.  Two free throws from Simioni gave the Cowgirls a 31-28 lead, but a bucket at the other end off a nice pass from sophomore Sasha Watson cut the deficit to 31-30. 
 
Junior Zantaya Davis cut the NMHU lead to 34-32 with four minutes left in the first half.  A triple from junior Michaela Neuhaus, tied the game at 36 with 2:22 left.   Junior Danielle Logan pulled WT within 40-39 with less than a minute in half and she followed with a second triple giving the Lady Buffs a 42-40 lead with 15 seconds left in the half.  WT held a 42-40 lead at intermission.  The half saw four ties and six lead changes.
 
For the half, WT shot 48.3 percent on 14 of 29 from the field.  The Lady Buffs were 4 of 11 from beyond the arc and continued their struggles from the line going 10 of 17.  White led the way with a season-high 17 points at intermission on 6 of 9 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line to go along with five rebounds. 
 
NMHU was led by 13 points from Johnson as she was 4 of 7 from the field with a triple and 4 of 5 from the line as the only Cowgirl in double figures.  NMHU shot 41 percent from the field on 10 of 24.  It was 4 of 11 from beyond the arc, but stayed in the game going 16 of 19 from the charity stripe. 
 
Things got chippy in the early moments of the second half with double technicals called on both Johnson of NMHU and senior Ariel Roberts of WT, off a foul on WT.  The Lady Buffs swelled the lead to five with a junior Madison McLain triple for her second long ball of the night at 47-42.
 
WT swelled the lead to a game-high 10 points, but NMHU hung around helped out by two triples from Brittany Brown as WT led 56-52 with 12 minutes left in the second half.   Robertson scored on a nice pass from Watson for a 63-56 lead with 8:16 left.
 
White scored two on two free throws from a 65-58 lead as she tallied her 10^th rebound before the foul and her second double-double as she scored a season-high 26 points to that point.  Robertson hit a 15 foot jumper for a 67-56 lead which was the largest of the game with 7:25 left as WT went on an 11-4 run since the 12-minute mark.  A jumper from Davis and a fast break layup from Robertson swelled the lead to 71-56 and extended the run to 15-4 (15-0 since nine minute mark) and a timeout by NMHU first year head coach Brianna Finch with 6:21 left.
 
A triple from Brown ended the run as the Cowgirls cut the deficit to 73-59 with five minutes left.   Simioni rolled one in for a 73-61 deficit with 3:54 left.  A hoop-and-harm foul for Michelle Tapia brought the Cowgirls within 76-64 with 2:30 left.  The Cowgirls hung around as Claudia Meneses buried a triple for a 78-67 deficit with just over two minutes left.  The Lady Buffs settled for an 84-73 victory.
 
The Lady Buffs now travel to Adams State for a 6 p.m. (CT) tip Saturday in Alamosa, Colo.