Box Score Season StatsCANYON, Texas – A total of 58 points in the second half by the No. 4/5 West Texas A&M women's basketball team sparked it to a 99-67 victory over visiting Eastern New Mexico Saturday afternoon. With the win, WT won its 15
th-straight game and finished the regular season with a 24-2 record overall and a 15-1 mark in Lone Star Conference play matching last season's record. ENMU ended the regular season with a 9-17 record overall and a 5-11 mark in league play.
Prior to the game, the Lady Buffs honored four seniors playing in their final regular season home game at the First United Bank Center. The 2014-15 senior class included;
Haylee Oliver (San Saba, Texas),
Ariel Robertson (Cedar Hill, Texas),
Jordan Vessels (Canyon, Texas) and
Chontiquah White (Dallas, Texas). After the game, the Lady Buffs cut down the net as they secured their second-straight Lone Star Conference regular season title last weekend at Texas Woman's University.
WT now will face No. 8-seed Angelo State Wednesday, Mar. 4, at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas, in the quarterfinal round of the Lone Star Conference Championship. Tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tickets are still available for the championship. Contact the Allen Event Center or Ticketmaster to purchase tickets.
White led the way with 21 points on 7 of 10 from the field and 7 of 7 from the line. Robertson chipped in 18 points on a perfect 7 of 7 from the line and four free throws with a team-high seven rebounds. Junior
Danielle Logan added 11 points off the bench with three triples and a team-high five assists.
The Lady Buffs shot 64.8 percent for the game shooting over 60 percent in both halves. WT buried nine triples and went 20 of 23 from the free throw line, including 18 of 20 in the second half. WT won the battle of the boards 38-22 and held a 44-12 lead in points in the paint.
ENMU was led by a game-high 22 points from Sarah Stinnett on 9 of 18 from the field with a triple and three free throws. Tori Tucker had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Jordyn Cooper added 15 points off the bench – all on 3's. The Zias shot 42.6 percent for the game on 26 of 61. They were 8 of 17 from beyond the arc and 7 of 14 from the line.
Back-to-back triples from the Lady Buffs built a 15-8 lead with 10:40 left in the first half. To that point, the Lady Buffs buried three triples. Moments later, senior
Jordan Vessels got into the long-range act with a triple for a 20-11 lead and timeout by the Zias with 9:38 left.
Eastern New Mexico cut the deficit to 24-21 with 6:04 left in the first half making four of its last four field goals as WT turned it over four times in the last 2:28. Senior
Ariel Robertson scored the "and one" for the second time in the half giving WT a 38-29 lead with just over 90 seconds left in the half for her team-leading ninth point of the game.
The "and one" for senior
Chontiquah White gave WT a 41-29 lead with less than a minute left in the half. Those three points tied her for sixth all-time in school-history in scoring with Teresa Tinner (1986-1990) with 1,596 career points.
For the half, WT shot 63 percent from the field on 17 of 27. The Lady Buffs were 5 of 9 from beyond the arc and 2 of 3 from the line. Robertson led the way with nine points on 4 of 4 from the field and 1 of 2 from the line.
ENMU was led by 11 points from Sarah Stinnett as she was 4 of 9 from the field and 3 of 4 from the line. The Zias shot 42.3 percent on 11 of 26. They were 2 of 6 from beyond the arc and 5 of 9 from the line.
WT built the lead to 57-38 with 16:30 remaining in the game as both teams heated up in the second half as ENMU made 4 of its first 6 and WT started 5 of 8. WT kept the lead at 20 points over the next eight minutes as junior
Michaela Neuhaus fed Vessels for a pair of buckets and a 79-55 lead with 8:27 left.
From there, the Lady Buffs blew the game open and led 88-60 with 5:20 remaining and finished with a 99-67 victory.
