CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M senior Lexy Hightower reached the 20-point plateau for the third consecutive game on Monday afternoon as the #19 Lady Buffs handed Midwestern State a 78-60 Lone Star Conference divisional loss at the First United Bank Center during WT's home opener.
 
Hightower finished the game going 10-of-12 from the floor including 1-of-1 from deep and a perfect 3-of-3 from the free throw line for a game-high 24 points. Fellow senior Abby Spurgin went 6-of-18 from the floor and 4-of-6 from charity stripe to finish with 16 points to go along with 10 rebounds for her eighth career double-double. 
 
The Lady Buffs finished the afternoon going 31-of-65 (47.7%) from the floor including 4-of-10 (40%) from behind the arc and 12-of-23 (52.2%) from the charity stripe with 44 rebounds (19 offensive, 25 defensive), 15 assists, 14 turnovers, 12 steals and five blocks.
 
MSU was led offensively by Moran Lenahan and Haevyn Risley who finished the game with 12 points each. Lenahan went 6-of-16 from the floor while Risley finished the afternoon going 6-of-7 from the field, they combined for eight rebounds and three steals. MSU went 25-of-57 (43.9%) from the floor including 4-of-20 (20%) from deep and 6-of-9 (66.7%) from the free throw line with 29 rebounds (nine offensive, 20 defensive), 14 assists, 18 turnovers, six steals and four blocks.
 
KEY MOMENTS

• The two teams split the opening 12 points of the game as they both started cold from the floor, shooting a combined 5-of-21 (23.8%) heading into the first media timeout
• The Lady Buffs went on an 8-3 run after the break highlighted by a pair of buckets from Aminata Dosso to make it 14-9. WT took a 15-12 lead to the second period as they shot 7-of-22 (31.8%) with 16 rebounds in the first.
• Lexy Hightower scored the first six points of the second for WT to extend their lead to 21-15, the Lady Buffs pushed their lead to 29-20 headed into a media timeout.
• WT took a 34-24 lead into halftime as a Dosso steal right before the break led to a fast break layup by Jayla Burgess to send the teams into the locker room.
• The Lady Buffs found their rhythm offensively to start the second half, beginning the third on a 13-6 run to stretch the lead to 47-30.
• Hightower moved to 12^th place on WT's all-time scoring (1,359) list with a long ball right before the end of the third period, passing former All-American Sasha Watson (2013-17).
• MSU started the fourth period on a run of their own (11-3) as they cut the WT lead to 63-50 with 5:54 left headed into a Lady Buff timeout.
• WT withstood the momentum swing as they pushed their lead back to 73-54 with just under two minutes remaining on a Jillian Sowell board-and-bucket.
• Gregory knocked down her first career long ball with 42 seconds remaining as WT picked up the 78-60 victory.

 
HALFTIME REPORT
The Lady Buffs took a 34-24 lead into the locker room as they went 16-of-37 (43.2%) from the floor including 0-of-2 from behind the arc and 2-of-4 (50%) from the free throw line to go along with 26 rebounds (nine offensive, 17 defensive), seven assists, five turnovers, three blocks and five steals. MSU went 9-of-30 (30%) from the field including 4-of-13 (30.8%) from deep and 2-of-4 (50%) from the charity stripe with 17 rebounds (five offensive, 12 defensive), seven assists, eight turnovers, three blocks and a steal.
 
COMING UP NEXT
The Lady Buffs continue their homestand this weekend as they host the Texas Woman's Pioneers in Lone Star Conference crossover action starting on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the First United Bank Center.
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• WT moved to 53-16 all-time against the Mustangs including a 30-4 mark in Canyon.
• The Lady Buffs are 36-4 all-time in home openers as they have won all six openers at the FUBC under head coach Kristen Mattio.
• Hightower registered her third consecutive contest with atleast 20 points on Monday afternoon, the last time the Amarillo native had three straight games with 20+ was February 14-21, 2019.
• Saturday marked the 37^th time in Hightower's career that the senior has led WT in scoring, it was also her 21^st career game with atleast 20 points.
• The Lady Buffs outrebounded the Mustangs by 15 on Monday afternoon following a -12 rebounding margin on Saturday in Wichita Falls.
• Hightower moved into 12^th on WT's all-time scoring list (1,364) as she passed former All-American Sasha Watson (2013-17). She is currently just 27 points behind Debbie Webb (1,391 | 1974-78) for 11^th all-time.
• Spurgin registered her eighth career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.