Box Score

Season Stats

CANYON, Texas  –  A layup with five seconds left by West Texas A&M senior Chontiquah White broke a 65-65 tie as the Lady Buffs downed visiting Harding 67-65 in the final game of the 2014 PAK-A-SAK WT Thanksgiving Classic.  With the win, the Lady Buffs improved to 4-1 on the year, while Harding fell to 4-2. 
 
"Harding is very well coached," head coach Mark Kellogg said.  "We really thought going in they were going to be similar to us with a fantastic five player inside similar to Chon.   We hung tough and got some stops and Michaela (Neuhaus) got the 'and one' down three to tie the game.  We got a stop to get the last shot and we had a couple of options with the final shot." 
 
The Lady Bison held a 59-58 lead with a big triple in the corner by Lundon Williams with 4:50 left as Harding outscored the Lady Buffs 22-7 from the 14:50 mark erasing a 12-point WT lead.  It was her only field goal of the night.  One of two free throws from A'ndrea Haney put the Lady Bison up 60-58 with 2:32 left.  Following a layup from junior Madison McLain, Haney scored a triple putting the Lady Bison up 63-60 with 1:55 remaining.
 
One of the biggest plays of the game was a driving layup from junior Michaela Neuhaus and a foul for the three-point play and a tie game with 1:23 left.  Out of an inbounds play, Neuhaus scored on a layup for 65-63 WT lead with 58 seconds.
 
Haney then hit two free throws to tie the game at 65 with 34 seconds left.  Out of a WT timeout, the Lady Buffs drained the clock to five seconds when White hit her layup for the game winner.
 
White led the Lady Buffs with a game-high 19 points on 8 of 13 from the field and 3 of 5 from the line, along with five rebounds.  Sophomore Sasha Watson added 12 points on 4 of 5 from the field and 4 of 7 from the line with three steals.  White was named tournament Most Valuable Player and Watson was named to the all-tournament team.  The rest of the all-tournament team included Michaelina Tomczak of Truman State, Jazzmine Robinson of Cameron and Arielle Saunders of Harding.
 
Harding was led by three players in double figures as Montana Lewis with 15 points and 11 rebounds.  Haney added 11 points, while Mackenzie McNamara added 10 points off the bench. 
 
WT shot 47.2 percent for the game on 25 of 53 as Harding was 23 of 55 in a very even game.  Both teams were 5 of 14 from beyond the arc and the Lady Buffs were 12 of 18 from the line and Harding was 14 of 25.  Harding led the battle of the rebounds 40-31 and 11-4 in offensive rebounds, but only led 7-5 in second chance points.  WT committed 15 turnovers and Harding had 14 miscues. 
 
In a very physical game throughout along with eight ties and nine lead changes, WT went on a 9-2 run capped from a bucket in the lane from senior Haylee Oliver for a 20-14 lead with 9:04 left in the first.  A hoop-and-harm foul for White pushed the lead to 26-19 with 5:02 left. 
 
WT led 33-31 at half and opened the second half with a 16-6 run for a 49-37 lead with 14:03 left capped on a steal and layup from Watson. 
 
The Lady Buffs continue at home Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. versus Oklahoma Panhandle State and then next Saturday against Oklahoma Christian at 2 p.m.  The home stand closes Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. versus Texas A&M-International .