LAKELAND, Fla. – Turnovers and blistering shooting by Eckerd College proved to be too much as the Tritons downed the No. 25-ranked West Texas A&M Lady Buffs 73-63 to win the Terrace Hotel Classic Saturday afternoon at Florida Southern University. 

With the loss, the Lady Buffs fell to 8-4 on the year, while Eckerd improved to 9-2 with its seventh-straight win.  WT was led by a team-high 19 points from senior Sasha Watson as she was 2 of 8 from the field with a triple, but went a career-best 14 of 18 from the line.  Senior Maddison Wild added 18 points on 6 of 12 from the field, while freshman Lexy Hightower added 10 points off the bench and junior Madison Parker pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. 

The Lady Buffs struggled shooting going just 18 of 44 from the field (.409), but was 6 of 17 from beyond the arc and 21 of 25 from the line.  WT held a 27-22 lead in rebounding, but 20 turnovers were costly as Eckerd led 27-6 in points of miscues as EC committed 16 turnovers, while the Tritons held a 34-12 lead in points in the paint. 

Eckerd shot a blistering 57.8 from the field on 26 of 45.  The Tritons were 6 of 12 from beyond the arc and 15 of 19 from the line.  Victoria Vine led all scorers with 20 points and Kacie Juday added 19 points and Anna Deegan chipped in 11.

The Tritons led for most of the game and built and early five-point cushion on multiple occasions in a high scoring first quarter.  A triple from Watson and a layup from senior Lilley Vander Zee, followed by a jumper from Hightower gave WT its first lead of the game at 9-7 with 6:25 left in the quarter.  Eckerd quickly answered with a 10-0 run for a 17-9 lead with 3:49 left, but the Lady Buffs roared back scoring 11 of the final 22 points for a 25-20 deficit following the first quarter.  Eckerd opened the game shooting 9 of 13 from the field (.692) and WT was 6 of 12.

Just like in yesterday's game, the Lady Buffs struggled in the second quarter as Eckerd built on its lead to 40-27 at halftime outscoring WT 15-7 in the second frame as the Tritons dipped to 5 of 11 from the field, but the Eckerd defense held WT to just 2 of 9 from the field for the frame as the seven points in the second quarter matched the Lady Buff season-low.  WT was 8 of 21 from the field for the half (.381), while Eckerd shot 14 of 24 (.583). 

The Tritons built the largest lead of the game in the third quarter at 21 points with 2:42 left at 59-38, but the Lady Buffs wouldn't go down without a fight as they kept chipping away at the deficit in the fourth quarter getting it to 12 at 65-53 with 4:33 left and nine with nine seconds remaining before falling 73-63.

WT returns home for Christmas break and will face University of the Southwest (N.M.) on Dec. 30 at 5:30 p.m. in the First United Bank Center.