Boxscore

Season Stats

CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M's Sydney Walton and Alie Decker combined for 43 points as the #7 Lady Buffs shot 66.7% from the floor to race past the visiting Mustangs of Western New Mexico in the 2016 Lone Star Conference opener on Thursday night at the First United Bank Center, 100-52. The Lady Buffs claim their fifth straight victory to move to 6-1 (1-0 LSC) on the season while the Mustangs fall to 4-3 (0-1 LSC) during their first ever LSC contest.
 
Alie Decker started off the scoring with a pregame technical foul free throw followed by a Mustangs miss from deep before WT gave the ball right back with a turnover, Sydney Walton rejected a WNMU jumper that led to a layup by the Oklahoma State transfer at 3-0. The Mustangs gave the ball away as Sasha Watson grabbed an offensive board and CeCe Wooten knocked down a jumper in the lane at 5-0, the teams traded misses before Shoniqua Coleman hit a three from the top of the key that was answered by a Watson bucket with just over six minutes to play in the period.
 
Wooten found Maddison Wild for an easy bucket followed by a Mustang miss and a Wooten bucket at 11-3. Lucy Benning answered with a long ball from the wing followed by a Watson board and score, the teams traded misses before Benning hit another three but Decker responded with a trey of her own at 16-9 heading into the first media timeout of the game with WT leading 16-9 with 3:26 left in the first. Walton hit two freebies after the break followed by a Mustang turnover that led to a Walton jumper in the paint at 20-9, Jordan Gutierrez hit a three from the top of the key followed by a Watson baseline layup and a Madison Parker rebound that led to a Lilley Vander Zee bucket at 24-12. WNMU turned the ball over again as Parker found Vander Zee for a layup to end the first period with WT leading 26-12.
 
Reagan Haynes found Vander Zee for an easy bucket to start the second followed by another Mustang miss as Parker hit one-of-two at the line before Western hit one at the line at 29-13, Decker found Vander Zee for a bucket followed by a Mustang miss but WT gave the ball back with a turnover that led to Gutierrez hitting two free throws to cut the lead to 31-15. Decker knocked down a three from the wing followed by a Vander Zee rejection and Parker fast break bucket to force a WNMU timeout with 7:08 left in the second and WT leading 36-15.
 
Wild grabbed a big defensive board that led to a layup by the Aussie followed by another Western miss from deep as a WNMU foul led to a free throw by Vander Zee at 39-15, the teams traded misses before Gutierrez knocked down a trey from the wing before Decker found Lexy Hightower for a long ball to force a WNMU timeout with 4:37 left in the period and WT leading 42-18. Jade Botellano stopped the WT run but Walton answered with a long ball followed by Jeylynn Fields hitting two free throws at 45-22, Watson found Wooten for a layup followed by a WNMU turnover that led to a Walton jumper with 3:07 left in the half.
 
The teams traded misses before a Walton steal-and-score followed by a Parker block that led to a Walton baseline jumper at 53-22, Keshaun Clark answered with a transition three before Parker found Walton for another bucket at 55-25. The Mustangs responded with a three-point play before an illegal screen call gave the ball back to the Lady Buffs with under a minute left in the half, Watson found Parker for a layup followed by a WT foul as Gutierrez hit one-of-two at the line to send the teams into the locker room with WT leading 57-29.
 
The Lady Buffs went 24-of-31 (77.4%) from the floor including 4-of-6 (66.7%) from deep and 5-of-8 (62.5%) from the free throw line to go along with 25 rebounds (four offensive, 21 defensive), 15 assists, eight turnovers, six blocks and three steals in the first half. Walton went 8-of-8 from the floor including 2-2 from the charity stripe to lead all players with 19 points in the first half followed by Vander Zee with nine and Decker with seven.
 
WNMU went 8-of-35 (22.9%) from the field including 6-of-14 (42.9%) from deep and 7-of-9 (77.8%) from the charity stripe to go along with 11 rebounds (six offensive, five defensive), seven assists, six turnovers, two blocks and three steals. Gutierrez went 2-of-9 from the floor and 2-of-5 from deep to lead the Mustangs with nine points at the half followed by Benning with six.
 
The Mustangs hit a three their first possession of the second half followed by turnovers on both ends before Decker added to her point total with a bucket at 59-32, Watson grabbed a defensive board but WT gave the ball right back as Gutierrez knocked down a transition three to cut the lead to 59-35. Western gave the ball back with a turnover as Walton hit a three from the wing before another Mustang turnover as Decker hit a long ball from the corner at 65-35, Watson stole away a Western pass as Decker finished with a layup followed by another WNMU miss but WT turned the ball over again with 6:22 left in the third. The Mustangs answered with a three before Watson cut thru the lane for a bucket followed by a Vander Zee offensive board as Decker hit two freebies at 71-38, WNMU missed again as Decker hit a three from the wing heading into a media timeout with 4:23 left in the third and WT leading 74-38.
 
Hightower turned a long defensive board into a fast break layup followed by a Taylor McCauley board-and-score before turnovers on both ends as Vander Zee hit one-of-two at the line at 77-40, WNMU missed a jumper as Hightower took the ball to the hole for an easy layup before a WT foul as Gutierrez hit two freebies at 79-42. Hightower answered with one at the line followed by a Parker defensive board as Hightower hit an NBA-range three to run the WT lead to 83-42, WNMU answered with a bucket followed by a Haynes three from the wing before the Mustangs hit a trey before a Walton bucket sent the teams into the fourth with WT leading 88-47.
 
R'Trevia Randolph hit two free throws to start the fourth before a Vander Zee bucket on an inbound play along with a foul for a three-point play at 91-49, WNMU missed from deep but the Lady Buffs gave the ball right back with a walk before a Mustang offensive foul gave the ball back to WT with 8:00 left in the game. Western knocked down a jumper followed by a Taylor LaCour defensive board but the Lady Buffs couldn't convert, Western missed from deep as Hightower finished under the bucket with a foul for a three-point play at 94-51 with 5:21 left heading into the final media timeout of the game.
 
Wooten hit two freebies after the break followed by a WNMU miss from deep and foul but WT missed twice from the line at 96-51, the Lady Buffs missed their next attempt but Wooten rejected a Mustang jumper but WT gave the ball back with a turnover with 3:12 left. McCauley went one-of-two at the line followed by a WT miss from deep but a Bailey Thiel gave the ball back to WT. The Lady Buffs missed from deep followed by a Haynes steal and foul as the sophomore ended the scoring drought with two free throws at 98-52, Amanda Bell stole away a WNMU pass followed by a Lady Buff miss and another Haynes steal that led to a LaCour board-and-score to run the lead to 100-52.
 
The Lady Buffs went 38-of-57 (66.7%) from the field including 9-of-18 (50%) from deep and 15-of-24 (62.5%) from the charity stripe to go along with 49 rebounds (10 offensive, 39 defensive), 23 assists, 18 turnovers, seven blocks and 11 steals on the night. Walton went a perfect 10-of-10 from the floor including 2-of-2 from deep to lead all players with 24 points followed by Decker (19), Hightower (14) and Vander Zee (13).
 
Western New Mexico was led offensively by Gutierrez with 14 points as the senior went 3-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-7 from deep to lead WNMU with 14 points followed by Benning with nine and Botehlo with eight. WNMU went 15-of-65 (23.1%) from the floor including 10-of-27 (37%) from deep and 12-of-15 (80%) from the free throw line to go along with 28 rebounds (13 offensive, 15 defensive), eight assists, 16 turnovers, three blocks and six steals.
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Buffs continue their homestand on Saturday afternoon as they welcome the rival Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico for a Lone Star Conference matchup scheduled for 2 p.m. at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.