Box Score

Season Stats

CANYON, Texas – The #5/9 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M started fast and withstood a second half run by New Mexico Highlands as WT improves to 4-0 with a 67-55 victory over the Cowgirls in front of almost 900 fans at the First United Bank Center on Saturday afternoon in Canyon. WT moves to 4-0 on the season with the home opening win while the Cowgirls fall to 2-1 overall.
 
The two teams traded possessions to open the game without a score before Sasha Watson found Maddison Wild in the paint for the easy layup followed by a Watson steal and score to force an early Cowgirls timeout with WT leading 4-0. Another NMHU turnover turned into a Lilley Vander Zee layup before Highlands registered their first points of the game on a Michelle Traynham three from deep on the wing, WT answered with a long ball of their own as Watson connected in transition to run the WT lead to 9-3. The teams traded misses before Traynham hit from deep again followed by a WT turnover to give the Cowgirls the ball with 5:58 left.
 
NMHU missed from three followed by a Cowgirls foul that led to a pair of Vander Zee free throws to stretch the Lady Buff lead to 11-6, the University of Texas transfer registered a block that turned into a Watson fast break layup followed by a Madison McLain defensive board with a Michaela Neuhaus transition three from the corner to run the lead to 16-6. The teams traded misses again before a Watson block in the lane led to a Madison Parker fast break layup from Neuhaus, a WT miss led to a Cowgirls layup that ended the 9-0 WT run to cut the score to 18-8 followed by a lane violation by the Lady Buffs with 1:43 left in the quarter. The Cowgirls answered with a turnover that led to a Hannah Alexander dribble and drive layup before a pair of WT fouls ended the quarter with the Lady Buffs leading 20-8.
 
The Cowgirls started off the scoring in the second quarter with a baseline layup before Parker went one –of-two from the charity stripe on the other end of the court, a NMHU offensive foul gave the ball back to the Lady Buffs that led to a Zantaya Davis hook shot in the paint to run the lead to 23-10. The teams traded turnovers before McLain knocked down a jumper, the teams traded turnovers followed by a Highlands layup before WT went to the line in the double-bunus with Parker hitting two from the line to stretch the lead to 27-12. The teams traded misses before a big defensive board by Parker led to a McLain three from the wing to stretch the lead to 30-12 with 5:22 left in the half.
 
After the media timeout, the teams traded buckets before a few trips down the floor with misses on both ends. WT took advantage of a Highlands turnover as McLain found Davis on a move to the basket for an easy layup before NMHU answered with a pair of free throws, Wild responded as the junior knocked down the three from the top of the key before Traynham drove the lane and finished for the Cowgirls. WT responded immediately as McLain nailed the transition three from the corner followed by a Giulia Simioni layup to cut the lead to 40-21 heading into the locker room for halftime.
 
The Lady Buffs went 15-of-33 (45.5%) from the floor including 5-of-9 (55.6%) from deep and 5-of-6 (83.3%) from the charity stripe to go along with 24 rebounds (eight offensive, 16 defensive), 13 assists, seven turnover, two blocks and four steals. WT was led offensively by McLain who went 3-of-5 from the floor including 2-of-3 from long range to score eight points in the opening half followed by Watson with seven and Neuhaus/Parker with five each.
 
New Mexico Highlands went 8-of-29 (27.6%) from the floor in the first half including 4-of-14 (28.6%) from deep and 1-of-3 (33.36%) from the free throw line with 16 total rebounds (six offensive, 10 defensive), seven assists, 12 turnovers, two blocks and two steals. Traynham led all players with nine points at the half as she went 3-of-9 from the floor including 2-of-5 from deep.
 
The teams traded misses before Highlands connected on a fast break layup to cut the lead to 40-24, the Lady Buffs missed again before a Vander Zee block. Neuhaus connected on another three from the corner with 7:24 left in the quarter followed by a NHMU jumper in the lane, Neuhaus found Vander Zee on an inbound play for the easy score before the Cowgirls answered again to cut the lead to 45-28. Vander Zee scored again with a layup before NMHU answered with a three from the wing by Simioni, WT committed another turnover before a McLain defensive board led to an Alexander jumper before Traynham hit another one from deep to head into a media timeout with WT leading 49-34 with 4:04 left.
 
Davis knocked down one-of-two from the line after a timeout to stretch the lead to 50-34 before the Cowgirls answered with one of their own at the charity stripe, WT committed an offensive foul that led to another free throw by Highlands followed by another WT turnover. Simioni knocked down a three from the wing to force a WT timeout with the Lady Buffs leading 50-38 with 2:09 left in the third. The Lady Buffs committed a shot-clock violation after the break that led to a baseline jumper by Kristy Marquez to extend the NHMU run to 6-0 followed by a three-second call on the Lady Buffs to negate a Wild three ball, Jacinda Woodruff hit one-of-two from the line to extend the Highlands run to 7-0 heading into the fourth quarter with WT leading 50-41.
 
Highlands missed a three on their first possession of the fourth quarter before WT gave the ball right back with a turnover but the Cowgirls missed a pair of free throws, Wild ended the WT drought with a three from the wing to give the Lady Buffs their first basket in 6:08 of game time. A NMHU turnover led to a Wild score and foul to head into a Highlands timeout with WT leading 55-41 with 7:35 left. Wild drew a charge on the other end of the court but WT couldn't convert on a three point attempt from the wing, Highlands responded with another Traynham three followed immediately by a WT turnover with 5:51 left. An over-the-back call on the Lady Buffs gave Highlands new life as Simioni nailed a three from the wing to cut the lead to 55-47, Watson missed both from the free throw line before a Highlands turnover gave WT the ball back with 4:18 left.
 
Wild found Parker in the paint for a layup before a WT foul sent the Cowgirls to the line with 3:46 remaining, Highlands hit one-of-two from the line followed by a NHMU steal at midcourt and a foul as Watson fouled out of the game. Highlands missed both from the charity stripe before Parker connected on another layup to push the lead to 59-48 before NMHU answered with a layup with 2:57 left. Neuhaus drove the lane and finished with a nice layup before Miranda Martinez nailed a three from the corner to cut the lead to 61-53, Parker finished again with a fade-away jumper followed by a McLain defensive board but WT turned the ball over again that led to a Traynham layup with 1:12 left and WT leading 63-55.
 
The Cowgirls elected to play the foul game after the timeout as they sent Neuhaus to the line, the senior knocked down a pair from the line to run the lead to 65-55 followed by a Highlands miss as WT took control again. A big offensive rebound by Parker gave WT the momentum heading into a Lady Buff timeout with 27 seconds left, Neuhaus hit two more from the charity stripe after the break as the Lady Buffs took the 67-55 win.
 
West Texas A&M went 25-of-58 (43.1%) from the floor including 7-of-17 (41.2%) from deep and 10-of-15 (66.7%) from the free throw line to go along with 40 total rebounds (14 offensive, 26 defensive), 19 fouls, 20 assists, 17 turnovers, three blocks and six steals. Neuhaus led the Lady Buffs in scoring with 14 points as she went 4-of-11 from the floor including 2-of-6 from deep followed by Parker with 11 points and Wild with 10 on the afternoon.
 
New Mexico Highlands went 20-of-54 (37%) from the floor including 9-of-24 (37.5%) from deep and 6-of-17 (35.3%) from the charity stripe to go along with 36 rebounds (14 offensive, 22 defensive), 18 fouls, 14 assists, 20 turnovers, two blocks and six steals on the afternoon. The Cowgirls were led by Traynham with a game high 20 points as she went 7-of-15 from the floor including 4-of-8 from downtown followed by Simioni with 17 points in the game.
 
The Lady Buffs return to action next weekend as they host the Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic with matchups against Minnesota State-Moorehead (Friday, 2:30 p.m.) and Texas A&M-International (Saturday, 2:30 p.m.) at the First United Bank Center with Lone Star Conference member Cameron also taking place in the two-day tournament.