Box Score

Season Stats

DENTON, Texas  - A 12-3 run over the final 3:35, sparked the No. 4 West Texas A&M women's basketball team to a hard-fought, 70-56 victory at Texas Woman's Sunday afternoon as the Lady Buffs clinched their second-straight Lone Star Conference regular season title.  WT improved to 23-2 on the year and 14-1 in Lone Star Conference play, while winning its 14^th consecutive game.  TWU fell to 14-12 and 7-8 in league play.
 
The Lady Buffs will be the No. 1-seed in the upcoming Lone Star Conference Championship in Allen, Texas, Mar. 4-7 at the Allen Events Center.  WT will play Wednesday, Mar. 4 at 6 p.m. versus the No. 8-seed.  Prior to that, WT closes the regular season Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. in the First United Bank Center against rival Eastern New Mexico for Senior Day.
 
For the game, the No. 1 nationally ranked field goal shooting team in WT struggled from the field against the top field goal shooting defensive team in the LSC at 22 of 55 for 40 percent.  WT was 5 of 19 from beyond the arc and 21 of 27 from the line.  Sophomore Sasha Watson had 23 points on 6 of 11 from the field and 11 of 13 from the line.  Junior Zantaya Davis had a game-high 10 rebounds as WT held a 38-32 lead in rebounding.
 
TWU shot 34.8 percent for the game on 16 of 46.  The Pioneers were 4 of 9 from range and 20 of 28 from the line.  WT converted 32 points off 23 TWU miscues and led 28-20 in points in the paint.  The Pioneers were led by 16 points Kenesha Saygo on 3 of 7 from the field and 9 of 11 from the line.
 
"It was exactly what I expected," head coach Mark Kellogg said.  "They (TWU) are physical, play good defense and are a really good team.  "Zantaya was great on the boards tonight and she did want we needed as we didn't score or shoot very well.  We couldn't get Chon the ball in the 1-3-1 as we need her night-in-night-out."
 
Kellogg improved to 55-5 in his two years at WT and has two Lone Star Conference regular season titles to his credit.
 
The Lady Buffs opened a 22-12 lead with 8:15 left in the first half with a 7-0 run over the last 5:01 as TWU went ice old going 0 of 9, 2 of its last 13 and a scoring drought of 5:43.  WT opened the game 9 of 16 from the field, while TWU was 4 of 17. 
 
WT extended the run to 11-0 and 14-2 over the last 7:38 for a 26-12 lead with 6:15 left on a steal and layup from Watson.  TWU went on an 8-0 run cutting the WT lead to 30-26 with 2:55 left in the first half as the Pioneers were 11 of 12 from the line to begin the game, while WT was 6 of 6. 
 
Two free throws by senior Chontiquah White ended the run as WT made just two of its last 10 field goals and a 32-26 lead with 2:35 remaining.  WT's last field goal came at the 4:03 mark by junior Michaela Neuhaus for a 30-18 lead, since TWU has gone on an 11-6 run.
 
Following a steal, by White and a timeout, WT junior Madison McLain hit a triple at the buzzer for a 39-29 lead at intermission.  The Lady Buffs ended the half on a 6-0 run.
 
For the half, Watson led the way with 11 points on 3 of 5 from the field and a perfect 5 of 5 from the line and five rebounds.  WT shot 41.4 percent from the field on 12 of 29.  The Lady Buffs were 3 of 10 from range and 12 of 14 from the line. 
 
Erin Maxwell led the Pioneers with eight points on 3 of 7 from the field and two free throws.  TWU was just 8 of 26 from the field, 1 of 3 from beyond the arc and 12 of 14 from the line.
 
WT held a 19-18 lead in rebounding and held a 19-10 lead in points off turnovers as the Lady Buffs committed nine miscues, while TWU had 13. 
 
Back-to-back turnovers by TWU and buckets for WT gave the Lad Buffs a 43-29 lead with 18:55 left.  Saygo hit a triple at the other end for TWU for a 43-35 score.  A hoop and harm foul for Spector cut the WT lead to 43-35 with 16:38 left and a 6-0 run for TWU.
 
McLain's second triple of the game gave WT a 52-40 lead with 12:59 left as TWU had cut the deficit to under 10 a couple of times.  Two free throws from Saygo cut the deficit back to 10 points with 11:30 left at 52-42.
 
WT then went cold as it was 0 of its last 4 and 1 of last 7 and a 2:49 scoring drought as TWU cut the deficit to 52-44 with 9:29 left.  Maxwell scored inside for a 52-46 score with 7:51 left and a 6-0 run by the Pioneers. 
 
A bucket and free throw from Watson ended an 8-0 run and a scoring drought of over six minutes by the Lady Buffs for a 55-48 lead with 5:59 left.  Watson then scored a jumper for a 57-48 lead with 5:01 remaining. 
 
A triple from Andrea Mapua cut the WT lead to 57-53 with four minutes left, but WT junior Danielle Logan came back with a big triple for a 60-53 lead with 3:36 remaining as WT made 3 of its last three field goals.
 
Davis scored a bucket with three minutes left for a 62-54 score.  She had 10 rebounds to lead the team to that point.  Senior Ariel Robertson swelled the lead to 65-54 with 1:58 left as WT made 5 of its last 5 field goals.
 
A big turnover on Rita Pateraki gave the Lady Buffs the ball back with 90 seconds to play as TWU had turned it over three times in the last 2:19 and 23 times for the game.  Out of a Lady Buff timeout, TWU committed a foul as Watson made two free throws for a 67-54 lead with 1:20 remaining.  It was Watson's second consecutive game of over 20 points in as many days.