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Feb. 28, 2006

Box Score

It's home sweet home for the 17th-ranked West Texas A&M University Lady Buff basketball team, as WTAMU routed Cameron University, 93-61, Tuesday night in the Lone Star Conference Tournament quarterfinals, and the Lady Buffs will host the semifinals and final Friday and Saturday night at the First United Bank Center. WTAMU is now 13-0 at home this season and is on a 17-game home winning streak, as well as on a season-long 10-game overall winning streak, improving to 25-3 on the year.

The Lady Buffs will now host the semifinals and final on Friday and Saturday, with WTAMU facing the lone North survivor, second-seeded Texas A&M University-Commerce on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by the fourth seed from the South, Texas Woman's University against the South's second seed, Angelo State University at 8 p.m. Friday's winners will meet in Saturday's championship game at 7 p.m.

TAMU-Commerce advanced by hanging on to beat Tarleton State University, the South's third seed, 60-59. Texas Woman's stunned the top seed from the North, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, 65-51, while Angelo State beat the North's third seed, Northeastern State University, 64-52.

WTAMU is making its 13th-straight LSC Tournament appearance, as the Lady Buffs are seeking their first LSC title since the 1996-97 campaign.

Tuesday night's win pushed WTAMU's home record to 13-0, as the Lady Buffs have won 17-straight home games and 18 of the last 20, dating back to last season.

WTAMU has now won five in a row over Cameron, as the Lady Buffs lead the all-time series by a dominating, 25-2, count. Three of those recent five wins over Cameron have been by over 30 points, including WTAMU's 96-58 win on Dec. 1 at Cameron.

Four Lady Buffs posted double-figures Tuesday, led by freshman guard Courtney Lee's career and game-high 21 points (14 in the first half), hitting a career-high five 3-pointers, part of the 11 treys hit by WTAMU, tying a season-high.

Fellow freshman guard Emily Brister notched 20 points, to go with four steals, while junior forward Alicia Saunders tallied 16 points, along with three steals, two assists and two blocked shots, extending her LSC single-season record to 115.

Junior guard Natalie Wheeler hit three first-half 3-pointers, finishing the night with 12 points.

The Lady Buffs shot a blistering 30-of-59 (50.8 percent) from the field, including a scorching 68.8 percent (11-of-16) effort behind the 3-point arc, offsetting an uncharacteristic 64.7 percent (22-of-34) night at the free throw line.

The WTAMU defense forced 28 CU turnovers, which were converted into 29 points, while the Lady Aggies only scored 10 points off the Lady Buffs' 22 miscues.

While the rebounding battle was a draw at 44-all, the Lady Buffs' defense limited the Lady Aggies to 31.3 percent (21-of-67) from the field, as WTAMU came into Tuesday's game leading the LSC and ranking 13th in the nation in field goal defense.

The Lady Buffs held CU's leading scorer Brittany Cooksey in check for the majority of the night, as she finished with 10 points, but only had four points until the final nine minutes of the game, ending the night well below her 15.3 ppg average.

WTAMU led from the get-go, as Wheeler draining a trey 1:12 into the game and the Lady Buffs sprinted away from a 14-6 lead with a 15-7 run, capped by another Wheeler trey for a 29-13 lead at the 7:48 mark, and WTAMU took a 49-28 lead into halftime.

The Lady Buffs were 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) from downtown in the first half, as Lee was 4-of-4 and Wheeler 3-of-5.

Cameron closed the gap to 18 points on several occasions in the second half, but couldn't get any closer, as the Lady Buffs led by as much as 35 at 79-44 with 9:20 to play after a Brister fastbreak layup off a Lee steal and assist.

For ticket information about the LSC Tournament, contact the WTAMU Athletics Ticket Office at 806-651-4424.

-WT-