CANYON, Texas – The #17 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M were led offensively by CeCe Wooten and Sasha Watson with 17 points each as they topped the visiting Falcons of UT Permian Basin, 78-50 in front of 521 fans at the First United Bank Center during Lone Star Conference action on Tuesday night in Canyon. The Lady Buffs improve to 7-2 (2-1 LSC) while the Falcons fall to 4-5 (1-2 LSC) on the season.
 
Sasha Watson started off the scoring on WT's first possession with a layup followed by a UTPB shot-clock violation but the Lady Buffs couldn't convert as they missed on their trip down the floor, Heather Crittenden gave the Falcons their first bucket before Alie Decker answered with a three from the wing at 5-2. UTPB gave the ball back with a turnover followed by a Sydney Walton layup before Stephanie Verduzco hit a jumper in the paint at 7-4, a jump ball flipped the possession arrow but UTPB missed their attempt before a WT turnover with 6:54 left in the first. A Walton offensive board led to a CeCe Wooten bucket and foul as the Weber State transfer finished off the three-point play followed by a UTPB layup at 10-6, Wooten answered with a bucket followed by a Niva Taito three from the wing headed into the first media timeout with WT leading 12-9 with 4:49 left.
 
The teams traded turnovers after the break before Lexy Hightower grabbed a defensive board that led to a Falcon foul as Decker hit two at the line at 14-9, the Falcons answered with a freebie followed by a Lilley Vander Zee board-and-bucket followed by a Crittenden bucket at 16-12. Madison Parker grabbed an offensive board that led to a Hightower acrobatic layup in the lane followed by a UTPB jumper and misses on both ends, Vander Zee hit two at the charity stripe followed by a Taito trey from the wing to end the first period with WT leading 20-17.
 
Vander Zee found Parker for a layup to start the second followed by turnovers on both ends before Crittenden added to the point total with a bucket, the teams traded turnovers again before Watson answered with a bucket and a UTPB miss before Walton found Wooten for a layup to force a Falcons timeout with 7:51 left in the half and WT leading 26-19. The Falcons turned the ball over after the break followed by misses on both ends and a Parker layup at 28-19 with 6:07 left, Walton picked off a UTPB pass that led to Wooten hitting one-of-two at the line followed by misses on both ends and a UTPB turnover with 4:56 left.
 
The Lady Buffs gave the ball right back with an illegal screen that led to a Taito three from the wing and another WT turnover but the Falcons missed from deep as Wooten knocked down a jumper just inside the arc at 31-22, Jackie Perez responded with a bucket followed by a Wooten jumper on an inbound play before Briana Caro hit a three from the wing headed into a UTPB timeout with 2:39 left and WT leading 33-27. Maddison Wild found Hightower under the bucket for an easy layup followed by a Hightower steal and Watson fast break layup at 37-27, UTPB answered with a bucket followed by a Wild layup before a Falcon miss and foul as Watson hit two freebies at 41-29. The Falcons missed a jumper attempt as Hightower grabbed a rebound and raced down the court to beat the clock but a UTPB foul allowed the Amarillo High product to hit two freebies heading into the half with WT leading 43-29.
 
WT went 16-of-28 (57.1%) from the field in the first half including 1-of-3 (33.3%) from the free throw line and 10-of-11 (90.9%) from the free throw line to go along with 16 rebounds (five offensive, 11 defensive), 11 assists, nine turnovers, no blocks and six steals. Wooten went 5-of-5 from the floor including 2-of-3 from the charity stripe to lead the Lady Buffs with 12 points at the break followed by Watson with eight and Hightower with six.
 
The Falcons went 12-of-25 (48%) from the floor including 4-of-8 (50%) from the behind the arc and 1-of-2 (50%) from the free throw line to go along with 10 rebounds (two offensive, eight defensive), nine assists, 11 turnovers, no blocks and five steals. Taito went 3-of-3 from the floor with all of those coming from deep to lead the Falcons with nine points at the break followed by Crittenden with eight to go along with four rebounds.
 
Crittenden knocked down a jumper on the first possession of the third followed misses on both ends before Watson cut into the lane for a layup at 45-31, the Falcons gave the ball right back with a turnover followed by a Wooten board-and-score followed by two Falcon freebies before a Wild layup at 49-33. Walton stole away an errant Falcon pass but UTPB rejected a Lady Buff jumper before a UTPB miss and Watson coast-to-coast layup at 51-33 heading into a media timeout with 5:00 left in the third.
 
The teams traded turnovers after the break before Nakedra Burke knocked down two at the line followed by more turnovers as Decker connected twice at the stripe at 53-34, the Falcons missed underneath followed by an offensive foul on the Lady Buffs that led to a Sam Martin three from the wing at 53-38. Decker missed both at the line before turnovers on both ends as a UTPB foul as Hightower hit two freebies followed by a Falcon layup at 55-40. Another Permian foul led to a pair of free throws by Parker followed by a jump ball as the Falcons kept possession for the last shot of the third, the Falcons couldn't cut into the lead as an attempt from deep missed to send the teams into the fourth with WT leading 57-40.
 
Watson stopped the WT scoring drought with a bucket after the break followed by a steal-and-score from the senior at 61-40, the Falcons gave the ball back with a three-second call followed by a Falcon foul as Watson hit one-of-two at the line before a UTPB shot-clock violation with 7:55 left. Watson found Wild for a bucket followed by a Crittenden jumper headed into a Falcon timeout with WT leading 64-42 with 7:13 left. The Lady Buffs gave the ball back after the break with an offensive foul as Watson fouled out of the game followed by misses on both ends before a Walton steal and coast-to-coast layup at 66-42, Crittenden finished off a board-and-score heading into a UTPB timeout with 5:21 left and WT leading 66-44.
 
The Lady Buffs turned the ball over after the break as the Falcons turned that into Jau'nae Peevy hitting two free throws followed by a Walton layup at 68-46, Peevy answered with a bucket of her own followed by turnovers on both ends and a Hightower baseline jumper at 70-48. Parker grabbed a defensive board that led to Hightower hitting one-of-two at the line followed by a UTPB miss and foul as Parker hit two freebies at 73-48, Kianna Fierro missed twice at the line followed by a Wooten bucket and foul as the junior finished off the three-point play at 76-48. Victoria Lopez knocked down two at the line followed by a Reagan Haynes layup with just under 30 seconds left followed by a UTPB miss to end the game with the Lady Buffs taking the 78-50 win.
 
The Lady Buffs went 28-of-48 (58.3%) from the floor including 1-of-3 (33.3%) from deep and 21-of-28 (75%) from the free throw line to go along with 34 rebounds (nine offensive, 25 defensive), 13 assists, 19 turnovers, three blocks and 11 steals. WT was led by Walton and Wooten with 17 points each followed by Hightower with 11 while Walton and Wild grabbed six rebounds each.
 
UTPB was led offensively by Crittenden who went 8-of-17 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the free throw line with a game high 18 points followed by Taito with nine while Crittenden grabbed 11 rebounds for the double-double. The Falcons went 18-of-52 (34.6%) from the field including 5-of-15 (33.3%) from deep and 9-of-12 (75%) from the free throw line to go along with 25 rebounds (10 offensive, 15 defensive), 14 assists, 22 turnovers, three blocks and 11 steals.
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Buffs return to Lone Star Conference action on Thursday night as they make their first LSC road trip of the season to Denton, Texas to take on the Pioneers of Texas Woman's with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m. at Kitty Magee Arena. The Pioneers are 5-3 overall this season with an 0-2 mark in LSC play following losses to Texas A&M-Kingsville and #8 Angelo State last weekend on the road.