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Jan. 3, 2008

Box Score

CANYON, Texas - Junior guard Emily Brister, who posted her second straight double-double with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds, helped the West Texas A&M women's basketball team get back on the winning track Thursday night as the Lady Buffs defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State, 66-48, at the First United Bank Center.

The Lady Buffs got off to a sluggish start in their first home contest since Nov. 29 as they misfired on each of their first four field goal attempts to fall behind 5-0. Junior guard Dixie Bell reversed the trend at the 17:06 mark as she put WT on the board with a three-point basket.

Bell's make kick-started a 7-2 run for the Lady Buffs, who battled back to a 7-7 tie at the first media timeout with 15:36 remaining in the half. After a Savage Storm free throw gave the visitors a one-point advantage, freshman Joni Unruh was able to give WT its first lead of the night, 9-8, as she converted a jumper at the 14:44 mark with the final seconds ticking off the shot clock.

Megan McLain put a punctuation mark on a 14-0 run by the Lady Buffs which gave them their biggest lead of the first half at 13 points, 21-8. While WT was building momentum, the Savage Storm could do little to slow the Lady Buffs down as Southeastern Oklahoma went cold from the floor going eight minutes without a field goal from the 15:36 mark until 7:36 was left in the half.

The Savage Storm did not fade in the face of the large deficit, as they cut the WT advantage to only three at 23-20 with just 3:03 to play. On several of its last possessions, Southeastern was guilty of a handful of turnovers which plagued the visitors in the first half - in which they committed nine - allowing the Lady Buffs to take a 27-20 lead into the intermission.

Out of the half, WT surrendered seven of the period's first nine points to see its lead shrink to just a basket at 29-27.

A few minutes later, with the Lady Buffs again leading by just a point a 31-30, Brister and the WT defense began to take over. With just over 15 minutes to play, the Amarillo, Texas, native converted a pair of chances from the free throw line, where she started out 9-of-9 to extend her consecutive successful streak to 38 before finishing 11-of-12 for the game.

Brister and the Lady Buffs collected nine of their 14 steals for the game, led by Brister with eight, during the second half to outscore the Savage Storm 39-28 for the period.

McLain was solid down the stretch, scoring five of her eight points in the second half while the Lady Buffs were able to work in several younger plays as they cruised to their seventh victory of the season.

Junior Courtney Lee contributed 13 points in the win, while classmate Jamie Dreiling supplied 10 points and six rebounds for the Lady Buffs.

WTAMU women's basketball is back in action this Saturday as they host Lone Star Conference North foe East Central in a 2 p.m. match-up at the First United Bank Center.