Box Score

Season Stats

STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The No. 10 West Texas A&M Lady Buff women's basketball team used a game-tying triple from junior Madison McLain and another big triple from McLain in overtime as WT won a thrilling 87-86 victory at Tarleton State Wednesday evening.  With the win, the Lady Buffs stretched their winning streak to four games with a 13-2 record overall and a 4-1 in Lone Star Conference play.  Tarleton State fell to 9-5 on the year and 3-3 in league play.
 
"I thought we outplayed them for most of the game," head coach Mark Kellogg said.  "We had too many lulls in the game, as we were up 11 with five minutes to play in the first half to see them come back and be down one at half.  "We made a few adjustments in the second half and got out in transition better and I am proud of them as I think we grew up a little bit."
 
Kellogg improved to 45-5 in his second season at WT.
 
In the overtime period, sophomore Sasha Watson scored two free throws for a 74-72 WT lead with 4:24 left in the extra session.  TSU pulled within 74-73 on one of two free throws.  McLain buried her second big triple and third of the game for a 77-73 lead with 3:40 left.  She then made one of two free throws for a 78-75 lead with 2:10 remaining.  TSU's Kathy Thomas buried a triple – just the third of the game for Tarleton State, tying the game at 78.
 
Thomas scored with a driving layup for an 80-80 tie with 1:25 left and a timeout by TSU.  A driving layup and foul for Watson right out of the timeout gave WT an 82-80 lead.  Watson missed the free throw, but sophomore Maddison Wild came up with a huge rebound and Robertson scored for an 84-80 lead.  TSU scored and then stole the ball down 84-82 with 33.7 seconds left with a timeout by WT. 
 
Breanna Fuller missed both free throws and McLain gathered the rebound with WT leading 84-82 and 18.2 seconds left.  Junior Michaela Neuhaus was immediately fouled and made both free throws for an 86-82 lead with 15 seconds left.
 
Thomas was fouled with 6.9 seconds left making both free throws for an 86-84 WT lead with a TSU timeout.  McLain was immediately fouled again making the second for a three-point lead.  Tarleton State moved quickly down the court and Bailey Wipff missed a "good look" triple off the front of the iron and Thomas scored the put back, but it wasn't enough as WT pulled out the 87-86 victory.
 
The Lady Buffs won their second overtime game of the season with the first also by one point against Western Washington on Dec. 18 in Las Vegas.  WT finished the game shooting 30 of 64 from the field for a 46.9 clip.  WT made 4 of its five buckets in the overtime session.  WT was 7 of 20 from beyond the arc and 20 of 28 from the line.  The Lady Buffs had 37 rebounds with 19 assists, 17 turnovers and seven steals.
 
Watson had a team-high 19 points on 7 of 11 from the field and 5 of 8 from the line leading four Lady Buffs in double figures.  Robertson had a season-high 17 points on 7 of 11 from the field with a triple and two free throws.  Senior Chontiquah White added 14 points as she moved into 10^th all-time in scoring at WT with 1,404 points surpassing Debbie Webb's (1974-78) mark of 1,390.  McLain added 13 points with the three biggest triples of the game.
 
"McLain (Madison) hit a huge shot as Sasha (Watson) found her for the shot at the end of the second half and Maddison Wild's minutes were great and she had a huge rebound in overtime," Kellogg added.  "I am really proud of this group tonight and it took the whole team for the win."
 
Tarleton State had a game-high 24 points from Thomas as she was 8 of 17 from the field, but was 1 of 5 from beyond the arc and 7 of 8 from the line.  Breanna Fuller added 19 points on 9 of 13 from the field, but was 1 of 6 from the line and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
 
The Lady Buffs forced Tarleton State into 17 turnovers and led 27-14 in points off turnovers, while Tarleton State led 44-38 in points in the paint.  The game saw 10 ties and eight lead changes.
 
The TexAnns shot 49.2 percent for the game and were 4 of 9 from the field in the overtime period.  TSU was 31 of 63 from the field, but was just 3 of 13 from beyond the arc and also struggled from the line going 21 of 31.  TSU entered the game as the top free throw shooting team in the league.
 
Tarleton State got a big offensive rebound with one minute left in regulation and a foul on WT sending Raven McGrath to the line for two shots as the TexAnns led 70-69.  She made both for a 72-69 lead.  WT had two looks at the other end, but couldn't convert. 
 
Following a miss, McLain drained the tying triple with 4.8 seconds left ending a 0 for 14 field goal drought since the 7:26 mark.  Out of a timeout by the Lady Buffs, TSU couldn't get a shot off as the game went into overtime.  It was the second overtime game of the season for WT.  It also was the third overtime against TSU in series history with both teams each winning one.  Both of the other overtime games went into double overtime.
 
The Lady Buffs improved to 13-5 all-time in Stephenville and 32-8 all-time against Tarleton State. 
 
WT jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but TSU came right back with a 6-0 run of its own for an 8-7 lead with 15:29 left in the first half.  A bucket out of the media timeout, gave TSU a 10-7 lead, but Robertson was fouled and scored tying the game at 10 with 15 minutes left in the first half. 
 
The Lady Buffs used a 7-0 run, capped with a triple from McLain for a 22-18 lead with 11 minutes left as TSU went on a 2:34 scoring drought and three turnovers during that span.  White added to the run with a "hoop-and-harm" giving WT a 25-18 lead with 10:08 left.
 
The second foul on White forced her to the bench as Ikpeaku Iwobi scored two tosses ending the drought at 25-20 with 9:50 left.  Buckets from Robertson and senior Haylee Oliver forced TSU into a timeout with 8:32 left as WT built the lead to 29-20 making its last four shots and extending the run to 11-2.
 
WT swelled the lead to 11 points, but six quick points from Tarleton State cut the deficit to 38-33 with 4:19 left and a timeout by WT.  Out of the timeout, TSU cut the deficit to 38-37 with the 10-0 run as WT made just 1 of its last 6 after opening 13 of 21. 
 
Robertson scored her 10^th point off the game off a nice assist from senior Jordan Vessels ending the run and earning the old-fashion 3-point play for a 41-38 lead with two minutes left.  Two free throws from Wipff gave TSU a 42-41 lead with 50 seconds left in the half.  The TexAnns led the 42-41 lead heading into intermission.
 
Both teams shot over 50 percent in the first half as the Lady Buffs went 14 of 26, but made just two of their final eight in the half.  Four triples by the Lady Buffs and 9 of 11 shooting from the line helped the cause, but 11 turnovers led to 10 TSU points.  Robertson led the way with 11 points in the half on 4 of 6 with a triple and two free throws as eight of 10 players scored. 
 
Tarleton State was 17 of 29 from the field and made just one of its last five heading into intermission.  Kathy Thomas led the TexAnns with 11 points as well.  TSU was just 1 of 6 from beyond the arc and 7 of 8 from the line.  The TexAnns had their way inside leading 26-18 in points in the paint and held a 13-12 lead in rebounding. 
 
TSU outscored WT 15-3 the final 5:47 of the first half.
 
White buried a big triple for a 50-46 lead with 16:30 left in regulation and a timeout by TSU as the Lady Buffs used a 7-0 run during the early moments of the half. 
 
Watson made one of two free throws for a 63-57 WT lead with 9:17 left.  Just the second made triple of the game for the TexAnns brought TSU within 63-60 on the trifecta from Raven McGrath.    White scored the "and one" for a 67-62 lead with 7:26 left as WT made its last five shots. 
 
Following the five makes, WT missed its next eight from the field and held a 69-67 lead with 3:51 left.  TSU pulled within 69-68 with three minutes left.  Thomas gave TSU a 70-69 lead with 1:48 left on two free throws on the fifth foul on White.