CANYON, Texas – Balanced scoring by the No. 3-ranked West Texas A&M women's basketball team gave the Lady Buffs a 61-36 victory over visiting St. Edward's in the 2016-17 home opener Friday evening at the First United Bank Center.  With the win, WT improved to 3-1 on the year, while SEU fell to 1-3.

Just one Lady Buff was in double figures led by a career-high 12 points from freshman Lexy Hightower as she was 5 of 7 from the field and 2 of 2 from beyond the arc.  Junior Madison Parker tallied 11 rebounds to go along with seven points as the Lady Buffs shot 25 of 46 for a season-best 54.3 percent as the team was 6 of 15 from beyond the ace and 5 of 8 from the line.  WT pulled down 35 rebounds and a season-high 29 on the defensive end.  The Lady Buffs had 16 assists and a season-low 12 turnovers with a season-high eight blocks and five steals.

SEU shot just 22 percent on 13 of 59 and was 4 of 18 from beyond the arc and 6 of 12 from the line.  The Hilltoppers had 36 rebounds as no Hilltopper was in double figures with Lexi Cunningham leading the way with eight points.  Leading scorer Shakera Barnes who was averaging 17.1 points entering was held to seven points. 

The Lady Buffs opened the scoring on the first possession with a bucket from junior Sydney Walton, but SEU's Lexi Cunningham buried a triple for an early 7-4 lead for the Hilltoppers with 6:29 left in the first quarter.

From there, WT went on a 17-0 run until to the five-minute mark of the second quarter as SEU as a pair of "and ones" by senior Sasha Watson and senior Alie Decker highlighted the first quarter and hard play from junior Madison Parker.  The quarter scoring ended with a jumper from Hightower off a steal by her for a 13-7 lead. 

Senior Maddison Wild scored inside early in the second stretching the lead to 15-7 and another steal and fast break layup from Hightower made the score 17-7.  She then hit back-to-back buckets for a 21-7 lead.  SEU's Abbey Hopper ended the run with a jumper at 5:09 left in the half for a 21-9 score, but a layup from Parker and a triple from Hightower pushed the lead back to 12 at 26-14 with 3:14 left. 

Later Hightower added her second triple for a 29-14 lead with 2:39 left as the Lady Buffs settled for a 33-16 lead at intermission.  It was the second time this season WT had held its opposition to under 20 points in the first half as University of Mary scored 14 in the opener in California on Nov. 4, as WT won 51-42. 

For the half, WT shot 51.9 percent on 14 of 27 from the field, but was just 2 of 9 from range, while going 3 of 4 from the line in a half with just a combined ten fouls and ten free throws.  Hightower led the way with 12 points on 5 of 6 from the field and 2 of 2 from range. 

The Lady Buff defense held SEU to just 6 of 24 from the field (25.0) and 2 of 5 from beyond the arc, while the Hilltoppers went 2 of 6 from the line.  WT had just one turnover in the half and forced three steals with three blocks and eight assists.  Cunningham led SEU with five points and a triple.

SEU came out of the second half with a little more pep as it made WT play defense for over the first minute of the half and raced out to a 7-2 run cutting the WT lead to 35-23 with 7:20 remaining in the quarter capped with a triple from Cunningham as WT threw the ball away twice in the first three minutes of the half.

From there, the Lady Buffs settled down and pushed the lead back to 15 with a jumper from Decker and to a game-high 20 to that point on back-to-back triples from sophomore Reagan Haynes, including one with two seconds left in the quarter.  Haynes then hit her third triple to open the fourth as the Lady Buffs were off and running and settled for the 61-36 win. 

WT continues its six game homes stand with the PAK-A-SAK Thanksgiving Classic Friday, Nov. 25 at 5 p.m. versus Tuskegee (Ala.) and then will face regional foe Colorado Christian Nov. 26 at 5 p.m.