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Jan. 16, 2008

Box Score

CANYON, Texas - One streak continued and one came to an end on Wednesday night as the No. 22 West Texas A&M women's basketball team extended its home winning streak to 39 games and snapped the run of 10 straight victories by Angelo State by handing the Rambelles a 74-53 defeat at the First United Bank Center.

With the victory, WT improves to 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in Lone Star Conference play while ASU falls to 13-3 overall, 0-1 in LSC South action.

The early portion of the game was tight as two of the top teams in the LSC South battled neck and neck; the game featured three lead changes and five ties in the first seven and half minutes of play.

Following the back-and-forth pace of the first few minutes, WT began to take control. A jumper in the paint by freshman Megan McLain at the 6:20 mark gave the Lady Buffs a seven-point advantage, 21-14, and forced a timeout from ASU coach Sally Walling Brooks.

The Rambelles answered out of the break with a three-point field goal by Lindsey Leatherman and after the two teams traded a pair of scores on the next few possessions, the Lady Buffs were left with a four-point advantage, 23-19, with 4:53 to play.

WT rallied to end the first half on a 13-6 run as McLain put an exclamation point on the end of the period by connecting on a medium range jumper as the clock expired to send the Lady Buffs to the intermission with a 36-25 advantage.

In addition to McLain, who finished the first half with eight points on a 4-of-4 mark from the floor, junior Courtney Lee was active during the half, connecting on 5-of-8 first half shot attempts to lead all scorers at the break with 10 points. Sophomore Holly Issacs made her fifth start of the season and dished out four assists during the game's opening 20 minutes.

After halftime, it was a familiar face who stepped up for the Lady Buffs as junior Emily Brister exploded for 11 points despite coming out of the game with 6:44 to play. The LSC's leading score finished the contest with a game-high 19 points.

Back-to-back three point field goals from Isaacs - both of which resulted from Lee assists - gave the Lady Buffs what was their biggest lead of the night at 59-38 with 9:45 to play. In the final stats, Lee turned in one of most solid games of the season, producing 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting, a game-high seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

On the night, the Lady Buff defense was stout, forcing 19 ASU turnovers, and the WT bench was impressive, outscoring the Rambelle reserves by the count of 23-10.

The Lady Buffs continue Lone Star Conference South action on Saturday as they travel to Portales, N.M., to battle boarder rival Eastern New Mexico in a rare Saturday night battle between the schools. Tip-off from Greyhound Arena is set for 6:30 p.m. (CST).