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Stevenson Becomes WTAMU Career Scoring Leader In Lady Buffs' 63-39 Trouncing Of Javelinas
Feb. 24, 2005
Junior forward Celeste Steveson netted a game-high 19 points to become the West Texas A&M University Career Scoring Leader as the Lady Buffs trounced Texas A&M University-Kingsville, 63-39, in a Lone Star Conference South Division contest Thursday night at the WTAMU Event Center. With the win, the Lady Buffs clinched the No. 2 seed in the LSC Tournament and will host a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, March 1.
With the win, WTAMU improves to 19-7 overall and 10-3 in the LSC South, clinching the second seed in the division and will host an LSC Tournament quarterfinal game on Tuesday, March 1 against the No. 3 seed from the North, which will be either Tarleton State University, Southwestern Oklahoma State University or the University of Central Oklahoma, depending on the outcome of Saturday's games.
Stevenson scored her ninth point of the game and her 1,907th of her career with a layup with 5:03 left half to pass Vanessa Wells' 1,906 points from 1993-97. Stevenson finished with a game-high 19 points and now has 1,918 points entering Saturday's regular-season home finale on Saturday when WTAMU hosts Texas Woman's University at 7 p.m.
Thursday night was Senior Night at the Event Center, as the Lady Buffs honored their four seniors, and all four rewarded the team with strong performances.
Stevenson also pulled down 12 rebounds to record her eighth double-double of the season and 14th of her career.
Fellow senior forward Vasha Adams also posted a double-double, her sixth of the season and 12th of her career with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Senior guard Suni Jo Petty netted three points and finished with 11 points, as well as tying her career-high by dishing out eight assists. Classmate and fellow guard Stephanie Williams doled out four assists and had two steals, as well as helping hold TAMU-K's point guard Nahogany Brown scoreless before fouling out, as she came into the game averaging 8.9 ppg.
Junior forward Keisha Monroe and Adams had five blocks apiece, and Stevenson had three swats, leading WTAMU to a new school record of 14 blocks. Adams also swiped a game-high six steals, as the Lady Buff defense forced 28 TAMU-K turnovers, with 16 of them coming in the second half.
The Javelinas only had one player in double-digits, Angela Trotter, with 10 points, as TAMU-K fell to 6-20 overall and 2-11 in LSC South play. It was the Javelinas' fifth loss in a row to the Lady Buffs at Canyon, as WTAMU swept the season-series and now holds a 34-7 all-time lead over TAMU-K.
Leading from start-to-finish, WTAMU had just a 29-23 lead at halftime, but the Lady Buffs blasted the Javelinas, 34-16, in the second half, as TAMU-K consented defeat the last six minutes of the game, walking the ball up the court and burning time off the clock.
WTAMU extended the lead to double-digits for the first time after Monroe opened the second half by scoring four of her nine points on layups, sandwiched around a pair of 3-pointers from Petty and junior guard Tiffany Lewis, which were instant replays of each other: from the exact same spot at the top of the arc and the other making the pass from the same spot on the left wing.
Stevenson hit a pair of free throws with 13:02 to go to stretch the Lady Buffs' lead to 20 for the first time at 50-30, and sophomore guard Natalie Wheeler's baseline jumper bumped the lead to its largest of the game at 31, 63-32, with 5:59 left in the game.
The WTAMU women conclude regular season action by hosting Texas Woman's University on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. 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 for both Saturday's game and for Tuesday's LSC Tournament.
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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