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Lady Buffs Edge Lady Savages In 73-72 Thriller
Jan. 15, 2005
DURANT, Okla. --- Junior guard Sassy Pyburn hit 11 points, including three-straight 3-pointers, as part of a 22-10 second half streak to spark the West Texas A&M University Lady Buff basketball team to a thrilling 73-72 victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State University Saturday night in a Lone Star Conference crossover match-up at SOSU's Bloomer Sullivan Gymnasium.
The Lady Buffs won their third-straight contest, improving to 10-4 over and out, overall, after defeating SOSU for the third time in a row and improve to 8-4 vs. the Lady Savages all-time.
SOSU, which snapped a five-game losing streak by defeating Eastern New Mexico University Thursday, falls to 2-13 overall.
The Lady Buffs were down 61-51 with 7:22 to go, when senior forward Celeste Stevenson hit a putback, then senior guard Suni Jo Petty hit one of her five 3-pointers, followed by a free throw from Stevenson. She missed the second one and senior forward Vasha Adams snared the rebound and put it back in to pull WTAMU within 61-59 with 4:41 left.
SOSU's Mindy Foster hit a bucket for a four-point Lady Savage lead with 4:07 to play.
That's when Pyburn took over, hitting back-to-back treys from the right wing to give WTAMU a 65-63 lead with 2:37 left, queuing a SOSU timeout.
The Lady Savages responded with a trey from Brittni Burks, but Pyburn struck again from the same spot with 1:57 to go, but Foster countered with a driving layup to knot the score at 68's with 1:28 to play.
Petty hit a pair of free throws with 1:08 on the clock and Pyburn hit a jumper with 24.2 seconds remaining for a 72-68 lead, but Burks hit a trey with 14.6 ticks to pull SOSU within 72-71.
The Lady Savages stole the backcourt pass and SOSU's Lauren Martin, who played for WTAMU in the 2001-02 season, was fouled. Martin missed the first free throw, but hit the second to knot the score at 72-all with 10.0 ticks on the clock.
After the teams exchanged timeouts, WTAMU got the ball to Stevenson who was fouled while driving the lane. Stevenson mirrored Martin, as she missed the first and hit the second to put the Lady Buffs up one.
The Lady Savages got the ball upcourt, but Martin was pressured by the Lady Buff defense and couldn't get a shot off in time.
Stevenson finished with a game-high 20 points, as well as pulling down a team-high eight rebounds and dishing out six assists.
Pyburn netted all 14 of her points in the second half, draining four 3-pointers. The Lady Buffs hit 11 treys for the night, including five from Petty, who finished with 17 points for the third-straight game.
SOSU was led by 19 points from Mindi Foster and a double-double from Kirbi Wilson with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Burks added 12 points.
The Lady Savages had a 35-31 rebounding advantage and shot 52.9 percent (27-of-51) from the field, including 15-of-22 (68.2 percent) in the second half.
The Lady Buffs jumped out to an 11-2 lead, following a putback from Adams and a jumper from the top of the key from Stevenson with 16:28 to go, prompting a SOSU timeout.
WTAMU maintained a reasonable cushion for the duration of the opening half, until SOSU crept back to 24-22 with 6:01 to go on a 3-pointer and jumper from Foster, then tied it up at 24-all on a pair of free throws from Brittni Burks with 5:36 left.
The Lady Savages surged to a 27-24 lead on free throws. WTAMU rallied back to take a 32-27 lead at the 2:02 mark, following back-to-back 3-pointers, first from Petty in the left corner, then from junior guard Tiffany Lewis from the left wing.
Wilson and Foster hit consecutive treys to put SOSU ahead 33-32 with 22 seconds left, and WTAMU called a timeout to set up for a final shot of the half, but Lewis' jumper from the top of the key was off the mark and the Lady Buffs went into intermission down a point at 33-32.
WTAMU returns home on Thurs., Jan. 20, hosting Midwestern State University in an LSC South doubleheader at 6 and 8 p.m.
Contact the WTAMU Athletics Ticket Office at 806-651-4424 for ticket information.
Fans can tune into WTAMU Basketball action on the Buffalo Sports Network on KGNC 710 AM or streamed on the internet at www.gobuffsgo.com.
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