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Feb. 27, 2007

Box Score

CANYON, Texas - Using a dominant second half and holding a 42-29 edge in the rebounding column, the No. 8 West Texas A&M women's basketball team opened the 2007 Lone Star Conference Tournament with a 78-57 victory over East Central on Tuesday at the First United Bank Center.

With the win, WTAMU (26-3) advances to Friday's semifinal round where they will square off against Central Oklahoma, who defeated Abilene Christian 76-57. Friday's action will take place on the campus of Texas A&M-Commerce which the Lions earned the right to hold by clinching the LSC North regular season title.

The Lady Buffs did not get off to the start they had hoped for in the contest as the early portion of the game did not have much offensive flow and ECU was able to build a 9-5 lead. That would be as comfortable as the Tigers would get in the first half as WTAMU responded with a 12-0 run. The streak was made possible by solid defense by the Lady Buffs and a series of poor ECU shots, which saw the team only make three of 14 shots.

Connecting on all four of her first half free throw attempts and adding four field goals, sophomore Emily Brister led all scorers at the break with 12 points. Senior Natalie Wheeler was right behind with 11 points during the period, while classmate Kara Pridey contributed eight rebounds as the Lady Buffs held a 22-12 advantage on the boards during the game's opening 20 minutes.

During the second half, WTAMU came out of the gate hot and pulled away to secure the victory, outscoring the Tigers 42-28 during the period including a 16-2 run that began at the 15:08 mark.

Brister added 13 more points during the second half, finishing with a game high 25 on the same day she was name LSC South Player of the Year. Sophomore Courtney Lee narrowly missed a double-double with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Wheeler finished with 13 points on the game, while sophomore Kylee Aleman netted a career-high 12 points.