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CANYON, Texas – The #2 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M registered 18 steals and scored 62 points in the paint on Saturday afternoon as they cruised to a 101-46 victory over the visiting Mustangs of University of the Southwest in front of almost 700 fans at the First United Bank Center in Canyon. The Lady Buffs remain unbeaten as they move to 12-0 on the season while the Mustangs remain at 4-7 with the exhibition loss.
 
The Mustangs turned the ball over on their first possession as Alie Decker turned that into points with a three from the top of the key followed by turnovers on both ends before USW got on the board with a pair of free throws by Cassandra Smith, Lilley Vander Zee answered as she hit one-of-two at the line followed by Decker finding Vander Zee under the basket for an easy layup at 6-2. Vander Zee grabbed a defensive board that led to a Decker long ball before USW got their first basket of the game with an Anitria Flowers jumper but Decker would answer from deep again to send the teams into a media timeout with WT leading 12-4 with 4:38 left in the first.
 
Madison McLain added to the WT lead after the break with a three from the corner to push the WT run to 11-2 before Jada Nixon answered with a deep ball from the wing at 15-7, Sasha Watson scored her first points with a layup followed by a Zantaya Davis defensive board and Madison Parker bucket to run the lead to 19-7. The teams traded misses before a Hannah Alexander layup followed by a Parker steal that led to a pair of freebies by Michaela Neuhaus, Parker stole away a Mustangs pass that led to an Alexander baseline jumper at the buzzer to give the Lady Buffs the 25-7 lead after one quarter of play.
 
Neuhaus found McLain on a cut to the basket for an easy layup to start the second followed by a McLain steal-and-score to stretch the WT run to 14-0 before a McLain three from the corner forced a USW timeout at 32-7 with 9:01 left, McLain finished again on a steal-and-score after the break followed by a Mustangs layup to stop the WT run at 19-0. Alexander found Neuhaus for an easy layup followed by another USW turnover and Neuhaus bucket at 38-9. Alexander turned a steal into a fast break layup followed by another Mustangs turnover before a Watson baseline drive and bucket, Watson found Vander Zee for a layup before USW answered with a bucket followed by a WT turnover.
 
The Lady Buffs got two McLain free throws on an illegal substitution followed by an Amber Zubiate jumper, Watson drove the lane and finished followed by turnovers on both ends before a Davis offensive board and bucket to run the lead to 51-13. Watson added to the lead with a steal-and-score followed by steals on both ends before a Nishalina Buksh layup was answered by a McLain three ball from the wing at 56-15, Nixon banked in a jumper that was answered by a Watson layup followed by a Parker defensive board and Watson layup to end the half with the Lady Buffs leading 60-17.
 
The Lady Buffs went 24-of-38 (63.2%) from the floor in the first half including 6-of-11 (54.5%) from deep and 6-of-9 (66.7%) from the free throw line to go along with 20 total rebounds (eight offensive, 12 defensive), four fouls, 14 assists, six turnovers, one block and 14 steals. McLain went 6-of-9 from the floor including 3-of-5 from long range to lead all players with 17 at the half followed by Watson with 12 points.
 
The Mustangs went 7-of-20 (35%) from the field including 1-of-7 (14.3%) from deep and 2-of-2 (100%) from the charity stripe to go along with 10 rebounds (one offensive, nine defensive), nine fouls, two assists, 18 turnovers and three steals. Buksh went 3-of-6 from the floor to lead the Mustangs at the half with six points followed by Nixon with five.
 
The Mustangs missed on their first possession of the second half followed by a Vander Zee layup and a USW turnover but a WT miss led to a Debany Davila three from the top of the key, Maddison Wild registered her first bucket of the game followed by a Wild defensive board and Vander Zee free throw at 65-20. The Mustangs answered with a layup followed by a WT offensive foul that led to a USW three from the corner to head into a WT timeout with 6:24 left in the third and the Lady Buffs leading 65-25, McLain found Davis under the basket for an easy layup followed by an Alexander steal-and-score before two Mustangs free throws made it 69-27 heading into a media timeout with 4:35 left in the third.
 
USW hit two freebies after the break followed by a WT miss from deep but a Mustang miss led to a Parker easy layup as WT used the chance to get their bench players some minutes, Davis finished under the basket followed a possession later by a Ellyn Avery free throw at 75-29. Taylor LaCour grabbed an offensive board and finished with the putback followed by a Davis rejection and another LaCour layup followed by four Mustang points to end the third as WT took a 79-32 lead into the fourth.
 
Andee Decker got her first points of the game to start the fourth quarter followed a possession later by a LaCour board and bucket to run the score to 83-32, the Mustangs answered with a layup followed by a Vander Zee bucket before a USW miss led to another LaCour layup. USW hit a jumper to head into a media timeout, the teams traded misses before Davila hit one from deep followed by a WT miss that led to another Mustang bucket at 87-41. LaCour continued to add to her impressive afternoon as the Georgetown native finished off a three-point play followed by turnovers on both ends before the Mustangs hit a three from the wing, Reagan Haynes answered with a three from the wing followed by a USW layup.
 
Decker found Parker under the bucket for a layup followed by misses on both ends before Decker knocked down a jumper from just inside the arc followed by a Haynes steal that led to a Decker fast break layup to make it 99-46, Avery grabbed a defensive board that led to a Mustang foul on a layup as Haynes hit two freebies from the line with just six seconds left as the Lady Buffs took the 101-46 victory.
 
The Lady Buffs went 41-of-76 (53.9%) from the floor in the game including 7-of-22 (31.8%) from long range and 12-of-20 (60%) from the free throw line to go along with 11 fouls, 27 assists, 11 turnovers, five blocks and 18 steals. McLain went 6-of-10 from the floor to score a career high 17 points followed by Watson (12), Decker (11) and Vander Zee (10) in double-digits.
 
University of the Southwest went 17-of-53 (32.1%) from the floor including 5-of-19 (26.3%) from deep and 7-of-10 (70%) from the free throw line to go along with 19 fouls, nine assists, 25 turnovers, no blocks and six steals. Davila went 6-of-11 from the floor in the game to score a team high 16 points to go along with five rebounds.
 
The Lady Buffs return to action on Wednesday night as they continue their homestand against the rival Mustangs of Midwestern State in a Highway 287 Challenge Cup matchup with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m. inside of the First United Bank Center. MSU enters the week with an overall record of 1-10 with an 0-1 mark in Lone Star Conference play as they fell to Texas Woman's (71-45) on Saturday afternoon in Denton.