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No. 22 WTAMU Trounces Texas Woman's, 73-41, Thursday
Feb. 5, 2004
DENTON, Texas - The West Texas A&M University made a successful debut with its national-ranking, as the 22nd-ranked Lady Buffs blew out Texas Woman's University, 73-41 in Lone Star Conference South division action Thursday night at TWU's Kitty Magee Arena. It was WTAMU's 13th-straight win and 17th in the last 18 contests.
The Lady Buffs, making their season-debut in the WBCA Top 25 Poll, improve to 18-2 on the year and maintain their lead in the LSC South with a 6-1 division record.
Meanwhile, TWU is a palindromic 2-18 overall and 1-6 in LSC South play. The Pioneers have lost 13 of their last 14 contests, after snapping a 12-game losing streak with a one-point win over Texas A&M-Commerce last Saturday.
It was WTAMU's 10th-straight win over TWU and the Lady Buffs are now 14-1 vs. the Pioneers at Denton. Overall, WTAMU improves to 28-3 vs. TWU in the series history.
Junior forward Celeste Stevenson and sophomore guard Jennifer Brock led WTAMU with 15 points apiece, while junior forward Vasha Adams registered her third double-double of the season with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Freshman guard Natalie Wheeler tallied a career-high 10 points, including eight in the first half. Adams, who was named LSC South Player of the Week on Tuesday, also swiped six steals, one short of her career-high. Brock also had five steals to tie fellow sophomore guard Tiffany Lewis with a game-high five assists apiece.
TWU was led by Kenyada Frazier's double-double with a game-high 17 points and 11 rebounds. However, no other Pioneer player scored more than six points.
The Lady Buffs' starters outscored TWU's, 34-25, while the WTAMU bench outscored the Pioneer reserves, 39-16.
Thursday night, the Lady Buffs used a 21-2 spurt to close out the first half, taking a 32-15 lead into halftime, sparked by Wheeler, who came off the bench to tally eight points in the half, breaking her career-high for total points.
WTAMU took a while to get rolling, as the Lady Buffs struggled in the early going, committing 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game. TWU led 13-11 before Brock hit a free throw, then made a steal and a lay-up to give WTAMU the lead for good at 14-13 with 8:40 left in the first stanza.
The Lady Buffs then reeled off eight more unanswered points, capped by four-straight points by Wheeler to give WTAMU a 22-13 lead at the 5:10 mark.
After a basket by TWU's Kenyada Frazier with 4:57 to play, WTAMU tallied 10-straight points, taking the 32-15 halftime lead.
Senior guard Carlee Howard, who leads the LSC and is 17th in the nation in 3-point FG made, opened the second half with a 3-pointer 40 seconds into the half to open a 35-15 lead.
The Lady Buffs' lead never dipped below 17 the rest of the game and climbed to 30 at 69-39 with 2:11 to play on a trey by Lewis. Brock gave WTAMU its largest lead of the game at 73-39 with a layup at the 1:19 mark.
The Lady Buffs didn't exactly shoot the lights out, with a 41.0 shooting percentage (25-61) from the field and an even chillier 4-18 (22.2 percent) from 3-point land. WTAMU was 19-29 (65.5 percent) from the free throw line.
WTAMU's defense limited TWU to 15-54 (27.8 percent), the second lowest shooting percentage by an opposition, from the field and held the Pioneers to 0-8 shooting from behind the 3-point arc, the first time this season that the Lady Buffs' defense hasn't allowed a trey.
WTAMU continues its two-game road swing on Saturday, traveling to Wichita Falls, Texas to take on Midwestern State, the preseason LSC South favorite, who is 14-6 overall and 3-4 in LSC South play, after losing to Eastern New Mexico, 76-72, on Thursday. MSU led 65-57 with eight minutes to play, but couldn't hold on for the victory. It was the Indians' fourth loss in their last six games.
The Lady Buffs return home for a four-game homestand, opening on Thursday, Feb. 12 in a rematch with Texas Woman's. On Saturday, Feb. 14, WTAMU welcomes NCAA's "Take A Kid To The Game" when the Buffs and Lady Buffs host Midwestern State in a 6 and 8 p.m. LSC South doubleheader.
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