CANYON, Texas – Coming off the thrilling 59-55 victory over No. 22 Midwestern State Wednesday, the No. 6 West Texas A&M women's basketball team returns to the road Saturday at 2 p.m. at Cameron. The Lady Buffs hold a ½ game lead over Cameron in the Lone Star Conference standings as WT is 10-1, while Cameron is 10-2.
Fans can access live stats, streaming and ticket information for Saturday's game by logging on to
www.gobuffsgo.com and clicking on the women's basketball schedule. The game also will be broadcast live on Jack FM 98.7 with Neil Horn having the call.
WT won its season-best 10
th-straight game Wednesday night as it avenged its only loss of conference play to Midwestern State. The Lady Buffs played arguably their best first half of the season defensively holding MSU to a season-low 13 points on just 5 of 27 from the field for a .185 clip. WT held a 27-13 lead at halftime also marking a season-low for points allowed this season and the eighth-fewest in the first half in program history.
The second half lived up to the pregame billing and felt like March Madness in February in front of a season-high 1,957 fans as MSU roared back, shooting 15 of 28 from the field for 53.6 percent. The resilient Lady Buffs kept fighting and got a huge offensive rebound from senior
Chontiquah White, two free throws from junior
Madison McLain to make it a four point margin in the final minute and a steal from senior
Haylee Oliver to secure the win.
White tallied her eighth double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while senior
Ariel Robertson tallied her first double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds and third of her career. WT shot just 40 percent for the game on 20 of 50, but made four more free throws which was the difference in the margin. Both teams pulled down 36 rebounds and had four triples each.
With the win, coupled with the men's victory over Midwestern State, WT tied the Highway 287 Challenge Cup at 7-7 as MSU led 7-5 entering Wednesday. This is the second year of the Highway 287 Challenge Cup between the two schools. WT won the inaugural challenge cup 13-12 last year.
Heading down the final stretch of conference play, the Lady Buffs and Cameron each have 10 wins thus far, while MSU has nine. The Mustangs lead Tarleton State and Texas Woman's by three games as each are 6-6. Texas A&M-Commerce is 5-5, while Eastern New Mexico is 4-7, Angelo State is 1-10 and Texas A&M-Kingsville is 0-11. The top eight teams qualify for the conference tournament in Allen, Texas, Mar. 4-7 at the Allen Events Center. Tickets for the basketball championship are available at the WT Ticket Office or by calling 806-651-1414.
Following Saturday's game at Cameron, the Lady Buffs return home to host Tarleton State Feb. 18 at 5:30 p.m. for the annual Pink Out Game, followed by road games at Texas A&M-Commerce (Feb. 21) and at Texas Woman's (Feb. 22). WT closes the regular season Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. against Eastern New Mexico in the First United Bank Center.
With the win Wednesday, the Lady Buffs improved to 19-2 on the year overall. White leads the team averaging 17.1 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game. She is 120 of 228 from the field for a .526 average and is 110 of 139 from the line for a .791 clip. White also has buried 10 triples this season. Sophomore
Sasha Watson is second in scoring at 12.7 points per game. She is 98 of 165 from the field (.594) and 66 of 117 from the line (.564). Watson leads the team with 84 assists and 60 steals. Juniors
Danielle Logan and
Madison McLain each have 37 and 36 triples, respectively, to lead the team.
As a team, the Lady Buffs are shooting .485 from the field as they entered the week leading the nation in field goal percentage. WT is 587 of 1210 from the field. The Lady Buffs are 137 of 370 from beyond the arc (.370) and are 345 of 498 from the line for a .693 clip. WT is averaging 38.5 rebounds per game and allowing 31.2. The Lady Buffs are averaging a league-best 78.9 points per game and allowing 62.9.
The Aggies, who are 13-8 overall and 10-2 in LSC play, have been a pleasant surprise the second half of the season after starting the year 1-6. Since, Cameron has gone 12-2 (9-1 in last 10 games) since and has won four-straight dating back to a 79-70 home loss to Midwestern State on Jan. 31. During their current winning streak, the Aggies have won close games with no game decided by six points or more and two decided by three points or less.
Cameron is under the direction of seventh-year head coach Tom Webb. The Aggies are led by the LSC leading scorer Jazzmine Robinson at 18.4 points per game. She is 139 of 305 from the field for a .456 average and has buried 24 triples (.414) and is 84 of 113 from the line for a .743 average. Robinson is averaging 8.1 rebounds per game and leads the team in assists with 62 and steals with 39. Brandi Leal is second in scoring at 12.8 points per game. She is deadly from long-range connecting on 75 of 199 triples for a .377 clip which is tops in the LSC. Only 14 of her 89 field goals have not been from beyond the arc. Leal broke the program's season three-point record Wednesday in a 68-63 win at Eastern New Mexico.
As a team, Cameron is shooting .419 from the field on 512 of 1223. They are 160 of 423 from beyond the arc (.378) to lead the league and are 297 of 448 from the line for a .663 clip. CU is averaging 37.8 rebounds per game, but allowing 40.0. The Aggies are scoring 70.5 points per game and allowing 73.4 per contest.
WT leads the all-time series with Cameron 36-3 and have won seven-straight in the series and 17 of 18. The lone setback was a 60-56 decision on in Canyon on Jan. 14, 2012. Prior to that, CU hadn't won since a 78-75 victory in overtime on Nov. 20, 2001, in Lawton. WT is 15-2 all-time in Lawton and has won the past seven there.
