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Lady Buffs Rout Wildcats For Second-Straight Saturday, 85-60
Feb. 12, 2005
ABILENE, Texas --- The West Texas A&M University Lady Buff basketball team had five players in double-figures with led to a rout over Abilene Christian University for the second time in a week, 85-60, Saturday afternoon, in a Lone Star Conference South Division clash at ACU's Moody Coliseum.
The Lady Buffs moved into a tie for second-place in the LSC South with a 7-3 division mark and 16-7 overall. WTAMU is tied with Texas A&M University-Commerce, who defeated Texas A&M University-Kingsville, 80-55, Saturday afternoon. The Lady Buffs will face TAMU-Commerce next Saturday, Feb. 19, at Commerce, Texas.
ACU slips a game behind WTAMU and TAMU-C with a 6-3 LSC South mark and 15-7 overall.
It was WTAMU's fourth-straight win over ACU and 10 in the last 12 match-ups as WTAMU has a 34-13 series lead. It was also the Lady Buffs' seventh-consecutive win over the Wildcats at Moody Coliseum.
Senior forward Vasha Adams continued her latest scoring streaks with a team-high 17 points, adding seven steals, tying her career-high for the sixth time.
Senior guard Stephanie Williams netted 16 points and dished out six assists, while classmate, forward Celeste Stevenson had 14 points, a game-high eight rebounds and a career-high seven steals. Stevenson needs five points to take over the No. 2 spot on the WTAMU Career Scoring List.
Senior guard Suni Jo Petty and junior forward Keisha Monroe tallied 10 points apiece, as Petty drained a game-high three 3-pointers and Monroe had seven rebounds, helping WTAMU to a 44-40 rebounding advantage, including 14 on the offensive glass.
ACU was led by Stephanie Riles with a game-high 24 points, but she committed nine turnovers, part of the 33 miscues by the Wildcats, who committed 32 blunders in last week's match-up at WTAMU.
Jamie Boles added 17 points for ACU, while Ashley King was held to just five points, including 1-of-5 from 3-point land. King became ACU's career 3-point leader with 176 treys in Thursday's Wildcat win over Eastern New Mexico University.
WTAMU shot 23-of-60 (38.3 percent) from the field, including 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) from behind the 3-point arc, a major improvement after shooting a season-low 2-of-18 (11.1 percent) from 3-point land in Thursday's loss to ninth-ranked Angelo State University.
ACU shot 20-of-59 (33.9 percent) field goal percentage, including 2-of-14 (14.3 percent) from 3-point land. In last Saturday's game, ACU shot 33.3 percent from the field.
The Lady Buffs were also 32-of-40 (80.0 percent) from the free throw line, compared to ACU at 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) from the charity stripe, including hitting 13 of their first 13.
Last week, WTAMU used a 38-8 advantage from the free throw line to claim the victory.
The Lady Buffs outscored the Wildcats, 37-18, on points off turnovers, and had a 17-7 advantage on second-chance points.
WTAMU opened the game with a 7-0 streak in the first two minutes, as Williams opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from the left wing, then had a steal and layup, followed by a bucket by Monroe.
Petty hit a 3-pointer and WTAMU had equaled its scoring from behind the 3-point arc from when the Lady Buffs were a season-low 2-18 (11.1 percent) from 3-point land.
After ACU closed to 10-5, WTAMU went on a 6-0 run that included four points from Adams, to take a 16-5 lead at the 13:10 mark. The Wildcats hit two baskets before the Lady Buffs went on a 7-0 run to take a 23-9 lead with 8:05 left in the half.
Amidst that run was a steal and layup from Adams at 8:51, that would be the last field goal for awhile, as ACU scored its next 10 points from the free throw line, to close to 26-19 at the 4:50 mark.
Stevenson then hit back-to-back buckets on a baseline jumper and then a steal and layup. The Wildcats hit the next four points to cut the gap to 30-23 with 2:41 to play, but the Lady Buffs closed out the half with an 8-0 run, getting four free throws from freshman guard Dixie Bell mixed in with a layup from Williams and a putback by Adams with 2.8 seconds left in the half to take a 38-23 lead at intermission.
Adams had 11 points in the half, while Williams had seven, along with Monroe and Stevenson netting six apiece, after Stevenson scored a season-low five points in the loss to Angelo State Thursday.
The second half was a striking resemblance to the first, as the Lady Buffs had an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 48-28 at 16:41 on a trey from Williams.
The lead grew to 63-38 with 10:53 to play on a putback from Adams, before ACU went on an 11-0 run to cut the gap to 63-49 with 7:36 left, getting nine points from Riles in the streak.
Yet just like they had done in the first half, the Lady Buffs responded, this time with six unanswered points to open a 69-49 lead and the Wildcats never threatened again, as WTAMU had an 11-5 streak over the final three minutes of the game. Sophomore forward Natalie Wheeler, who missed Thursday's game with a sprained ankle, hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 8.6 seconds left for WTAMU's largest lead of the game at 28 points, 85-57, before ACU's Boles hit a trey with 1.2 seconds left for the final scoring.
WTAMU will wrap up its four-game road swing next weekend, traveling to Wichita Falls, Texas to take on Midwestern State University on Thursday, Feb. 17, before heading to Commerce, Texas to face Texas A&M University-Commerce on Saturday, Feb. 19.
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.
The Lady Buffs and Buffs return home to host Texas A&M University-Kingsville on Thursday, Feb. 24. The WTAMU women conclude regular season action by hosting Texas Woman's University on Saturday, Feb. 26. The world renowned slam dunk acrobatic group "The Extreme Team" will be performing at halftime.
Contact the WTAMU Athletics Ticket Office at 806-651-4424 for ticket information.
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