Boxscore (HTML)
Season Stats (HTML)
CANYON, Texas – The #2/3 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M forced 25 turnovers and had three different players score in double-digits as they cruised past the visiting Falcons of UT-Permian Basin, 78-48 at the First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Buffs remain unbeaten on the year as they move to 8-0 while the Falcons fall to 3-5 on the season.
The teams traded misses on their first two possessions before
Sasha Watson put the first points of the game on the board with a drive down the lane followed by a Falcons turnover and a pair of free throws by
Maddison Wild for the early 4-0 lead before UTPB gave the ball away again and Watson finished with a layup to force a Falcons timeout with WT leading 6-0 with 7:29 left in the first. The teams traded turnovers after the break before Shanna Taylor knocked down a three from the wing for UTPB's first points followed a possession later by a Victoria Lopez layup,
Michaela Neuhaus hit a jumper to stop the Falcons run but Taylor answered with another long ball followed by a pair of
Madison Parker freebies.
Nivina Taito knocked down a three from the top of the key for the Falcons followed by a WT miss but
Madison McLain blocked a shot that led to a Parker fast break layup, McLain finished off a steal-and-score before Jau'nae Peevy hit a jumper to cut the lead to 14-13.
Hannah Alexander answered with a jumper before another Taito long ball before a McLain offensive board led to a
Zantaya Davis layup with just under a minute left. The Falcons grabbed an offensive board of their own but they couldn't convert followed by a McLain long transition three at the buzzer to give WT the 21-16 lead after one quarter of play.
Davis kicked out to Watson for the three from the wing to start the second quarter followed by an
Alie Decker steal that led to a three from the corner by the junior transfer to run the lead to 27-16, Kayla White hit a jumper from just inside the arc followed by a three-second call on both ends of the court before WT gave the ball back to the Falcons with an offensive foul. The teams traded misses and turnovers before a Liley Vander Zee block but WT couldn't convert as Elisa Gonzalez hit a jumper for the Falcons heading into a media timeout with WT leading 27-20 with 4:02 left in the half.
Vander Zee hit two from the charity stripe after the timeout followed by a UTPB turnover on the Lady Buff full court pressure before a Davis layup and another Falcon turnover as Decker hit a long ball from the corner to force a UTPB timeout with 3:23 left and WT leading 34-20. UTPB turned the ball over as Decker hit a pull-up jumper on the baseline followed by misses on both ends before a Wild steal that forces a Falcons timeout with 14.6 seconds left. WT tried to add to their lead before the half but a Watson layup attempt wouldn't go as the teams headed into the locker room with the Lady Buffs leading 36-20.
The Lady Buffs went 13-of-31 (41.9%) from the floor in the first half including 4-of-9 (44.4%) from long range and 6-of-8 (75%) from the charity stripe to go along with 20 rebounds (six offensive, 14 defensive), five fouls, nine assists, seven turnovers, six blocks and seven steals. Decker went 3-of-5 from the floor including 2-of-3 from deep in the first half to lead WT with eight points followed by Watson with seven and McLain with five.
UTPB shot 33.3% (8-of-24) from the floor in the first half including 44.4% (4-of-9) from long range while not attempting a free throw in the first 20 minutes to go along with 15 rebounds (two offensive, 13 defensive), nine fouls, eight assists, 13 turnovers, one block and three steals. Taito and Taylor went a combined 4-of-6 from the floor in the first half to score six points each.
WT turned the ball over to start the second half followed by a White pull-up jumper for the Falcons, WT missed on their trip down the floor followed by another UTPB bucket before Vander Zee found Wild under the bucket for WT's first points of the second half. The teams traded turnovers before Watson grabbed an offensive board that led to a Neuhaus transition three from the wing, Alexander stole the ball away on a pass to the paint as Vander Zee hit one-of-two from the line before UTPB answered with a jumper in the paint at 42-26. Neuhaus drove the baseline and finished a three-point play followed by a Falcons jumper just inside the arc and a WT offensive foul with 5:44 left, the Falcons hit another three followed by a WT three-second call before Wild grabbed a defensive board heading into a media timeout with 4:24 left in the third and WT leading 45-31.
Davis hit one-of-two at the line after the break before Taylor answered with a jumper in the paint followed by a McLain jumper to run the score to 48-33, the Lady Buffs got the ball back on a shot clock violation followed by a Watson three-point play before a Falcons travel and a pair of free throws by Alexander. UTPB turned the ball over at midcourt that led to a Davis layup followed by two Falcon free throws before Alexander hit two of her own, UTPB answered with a layup followed by an illegal screen call on the Lady Buffs with 13.7 seconds left as a Falcon jumper couldn't find the bottom of the net to head into the fourth quarter with the Lady Buffs leading 57-37.
Alexander connected on a floater off of the glass to start the fourth quarter followed by a Vander Zee defensive board that led to a transition layup by Alexander who finished the three-point play at 62-37, the teams traded misses and turnovers before UTPB hit a three from the top of the key to head into a Falcons timeout with WT leading 62-40 with 7:23 left. The Falcons turned on the full court pressure after the timeout but WT wasn't fazed as Watson found Parker under the basket for an easy layup followed by turnovers on both ends of the court before a McLain pull-up jumper on the baseline. UTPB answered with a bucket of their own followed by a WT miss before Watson grabbed defensive board and Falcon foul that sent the teams into the last media timeout of the game with WT leading 66-42 with 4:26 left.
WT missed two from the line after the break followed by a Falcons layup before Davis answered with a bucket of her own at 68-44, Watson finished off a steal-and-score followed by a UTPB turnover that led to a McLain long ball from the wing to give WT the 73-44 lead with 2:49 left heading into a timeout. The lead allowed
Kristen Mattio to use her bench for the remainder of the game as Davis grabbed a defensive board followed by a
Ellyn Avery long ball from the top of the key, UTPB knocked down a shot from the baseline followed by a WT foul and two free throws before a
Reagan Haynes layup ran the score to 78-48 to end the game.
The Lady Buffs went 28-of-55 (50.9%) from the floor including 7-of-16 (43.8%) from deep and 15-o-22 (68.2%) from the charity stripe to go along with 35 total rebounds (nine offensive, 26 defensive), 13 fouls, 18 assists, 17 turnovers, seven blocks and 10 steals in the game. Watson and McLain went a combined 10-of-17 from the floor to score 12 points each in the game followed by Alexander with 11 and Davis with nine to go along with a team leading nine rebounds.
The Falcons went 19-of-53 (35.8%) from the floor including 6-of-20 (30%) from deep and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line to go along with 29 rebounds (eight offensive, 21 defensive), 22 fouls, 15 assists, 25 turnovers, two blocks and seven steals. Taito went 4-of-7 from the floor including 3-of-5 from long range to lead the Falcons with 11 points followed by Taylor with 10 to go along with six rebounds.
The Lady Buffs travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico for matchups against a pair of Division II Independents next week as they take on Puerto Rico-Mayaguez on Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. CT followed by a contest with Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras on Wednesday with tipoff set for 5 p.m. CT.
