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CANYON, Texas – The #7 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M used 33 combined points by their three seniors as they ended their 2015-16 regular season home schedule in style on Wednesday night as WT topped the visiting Lions of Texas A&M-Commerce, 63-58 in front of almost 1,000 fans at the First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas. The Lady Buffs improve to 23-2 (12-2 LSC) on the season while the Lions fall to 14-12 (7-7 LSC) overall.
 
The Lady Buffs controlled the opening tip as Alie Decker knocked down a jumper on WT's first possession followed by misses on both ends before a Commerce turnover led to a Madison McLain three from the top of the key as the shot clock expired at 5-0, Commerce gave it away again as McLain found Decker for a transition layup followed by a Princess Davis layup for the Lions first points. Sasha Watson found Davis under the bucket for an easy layup followed by another Davis steal before WT gave it right back with a walk, Brittany Adams answered with a layup heading into the first media timeout of the game with 4:49 on the clock and WT leading 9-4.
 
The teams traded turnovers after the break followed by a McLain long ball from the wing followed by Khala Riley hitting one-of-two at the line before another WT turnover that led to a Davis jumper in the paint at 12-7, the teams traded turnovers again followed by a WT foul as Gabby Scott hit two freebies followed by a Lady Buff miss underneath that led to another Davis bucket with under a minute left. A team offensive rebound by the Lady Buffs led to a Michaela Neuhaus trey from the corner on an inbound play followed by a Commerce miss from deep to give WT a 15-11 lead after one quarter of play.
 
The teams traded misses to start the second before a Lady Buffs over-the-back call gave possession back to the Lions before another McLain steal switched the floor again, Davis found Decker on the wing for a contested three followed by turnovers on both ends before a WT offensive foul but Decker stole away an errant Lions pass. The Lady Buffs couldn't convert as a WT miss led to a Commerce bucket followed by another WT turnover and Amari Jones layup at 18-15, Commerce rejected a WT jumper followed by a Lady Buff foul heading into a media timeout with WT leading 18-15 with 4:41 left in the half.
 
Riley knocked down a pair at the line after the break followed by a TAMUC foul a Neuhaus hit two freebies before another Commerce bucket followed by a WT illegal screen to give possession back to the Lions at 20-19, Artaejah Gay's board and score gave Commerce their first lead followed by another WT miss and Gray hitting from under the basket again at 20-23. Neuhaus found Maddison Wild under the bucket for an easy layup followed by a Scott jumper in the paint before Neuhaus drained a three from the wing at 25-25, Hannah Alexander grabbed a defensive board but WT couldn't convert as they missed from deep but the Lions gave it back with an illegal screen with 1:13 left. The Lady Buffs gave the ball right back with a turnover heading into a Lions timeout but Commerce couldn't find the bottom of the bucket as the clock expired to send the teams into the break at 25-25.
 
The Lady Buffs went 9-of-28 (32.1%) from the floor in the opening half including 5-of-9 (55.6%) from long range and a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe to go along with 13 total rebounds (six offensive, seven defensive), six fouls, nine assists, eight turnovers, no blocks and seven steals. Neuhaus went 2-of-4 from the floor including 2-of-3 from deep to lead the Lady Buffs at the break with eight points followed by Decker with seven and McLain with six while Davis grabbed four rebounds in the first half.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce went 10-of-20 (50%) from the floor in the first half including 0-of-2 from deep and 5-of-6 (83.3%) from the free throw line to go along with 17 rebounds (three offensive, 13 defensive), seven fouls, three assists, 11 turnovers, three blocks and one steal. Davis and Gay scored six points each in the first half for the Lions while Shomari Harris grabbed six rebounds.
 
Watson connected on a floater in the lane to start the third followed by a steal and score from the Palo Duro alum, the teams traded misses before Gay hit a turnaround jumper in the lane followed by a WT illegal screen call that led to another Commerce bucket at 29-29. The teams traded misses again before a Watson fast break layup gave WT the lead again as a Commerce miss led to Davis three-point play at 34-29, the teams traded turnovers and misses again heading into a media timeout with 4:39 left.
 
Adams hit a jumper in the paint after the break to stop the WT run before Wild knocked down a trey from the wing at 37-31, Adams hit two freebies followed by a Lady Buff miss from deep as a Neuhaus steal gave the possession arrow back to WT as a Commerce foul led to two Wild free throws at 39-33. Gay hit a jumper in the paint followed by a WT turnover and misses on both ends before Gay hit another bucket at 39-37, Alexander drove the baseline and finished with a layup before Davis answered with a jumper followed by a WT turnover and Davis fast break layup at 41-41 before a Commerce foul with 0.9 second left allowed Watson to hit one-of-two at the line heading into the fourth quarter with WT leading 42-41.
 
Scott hit a contested three from the wing to start the fourth quarter before Parker answered with a layup followed by bad possessions on both ends at 44-44, the Lions missed in the paint as Decker gave WT the lead with a long ball from the wing before Scott answered with a layup at 47-46. The teams traded misses before McLain hit a pull-up jumper from 10 feet followed by another TAMUC miss and a McLain trey from the wing from Decker at 52-46, Harris found Scott for an easy bucket followed by a Davis turnaround jumper in the paint with a Lions foul as the senior finished off the three-point play at 55-48. The teams traded misses from deep followed by an Adams transition layup and a TAMUC foul heading into the last media timeout of the game with WT leading 55-50 with 4:46 left.
 
The Lady Buffs gave the ball back after the break with an illegal screen but the Lions couldn't convert as they missed a three from the wing as Davis turned that into a jumper in the lane, the teams traded misses before Davis hit two freebies for the Lions followed by a WT turnover and another Lady Buff foul as Davis went to the line again hit one-of-two at 57-53. A Commerce foul allowed Davis hit two freebies for the Lady Buffs followed by a Lions offensive foul but WT couldn't convert as they missed from deep as Commerce answered with a three to head into a timeout with WT leading 59-56 with 1:33 left. The Lions cut into the lead after the break as they hit two at the line heading into a WT timeout followed by a WT miss under the basket but the Lady Buffs kept possession with an offensive team rebound, the Lions gave the ball away following a defensive rebound as they were forced to foul as Watson hit two at the line with 8.8 second left and WT leading 61-58. McLain sealed the win for the Lady Buffs as the senior blocked a three attempts by the Lions with five seconds left as TAMUC were forced to foul again as McLain hit two heading into a Commerce timeout with 4.9 left, the Lions missed their long ball attempt after the timeout as WT took the 63-58 win.
 
The Lady Buffs went 21-of-54 (38.9%) from the floor in the game including 8-of-18 (44.4%) from deep and 13-of-14 (92.9%) from the free throw line to go along with 31 total rebounds (11 offensive, 20 defensive), 14 fouls, 14 assists, 16 turnovers, one block and 12 steals. McLain went 4-of-8 from the floor including 3-of-5 from deep to lead the Lady Buffs with 13 points followed by Davis with 12 and Decker with 10 while Davis grabbed nine rebounds to finish just one shy of a double-double.
 
The Lions went 22-of-51 (43.1%) from the floor including 2-of-12 (16.7%) from long range and 12-of-14 (85.7%) from the charity stripe to go along with 33 rebounds (10 offensive, 23 defensive), 19 fouls, 10 assists, 18 turnovers, three blocks and six steals. Davis went 5-of-10 from the floor including 3-of-4 from the free throw line to lead the Lions with 13 points followed by Gay with 12 and Scott with 10 while Harris grabbed seven rebounds.
 
The Lady Buffs return to action on Saturday night as they travel to Stephenville, Texas for a Lone Star Conference matchup with the Tarleton State TexAnns with tipoff set for 5 p.m. from Wisdom Gym. WT topped the TexAnns (78-73) in an overtime thriller back on January 23^rd at the First United Bank Center.