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No. 19 Lady Buffs Drubbed By No. 17 ASU, 79-42, Saturday
Feb. 28, 2004
SAN ANGELO, Texas - The West Texas A&M University women's basketball team was overtaken by Angelo State University early in the game and never recovered, as the 19th-ranked Lady Buffs were dropped by No. 17 ASU, 79-42, Saturday night at ASU's Junell Center at San Angelo, Texas.
WTAMU clinched the No. 1 seed in the Lone Star Conference South division in Thursday's win over Abilene Christian and Angelo State's victory over Eastern New Mexico. ASU had to win Saturday in order to claim the No. 3 seed, while ACU grabbed the No. 2 seed by knocking off ENMU, who went from tied for first to start the weekend, to fourth.
The Lady Buffs enter the postseason with a 23-4 overall and 11-3 LSC South record, while the Rambelles end the regular season with a 23-4 overall and 10-4 LSC South mark.
Senior guard Carlee Howard led WTAMU with 13 points, while junior forward Vasha Adams pulled down a game-high 10 points.
The Lady Buffs shot a paltry 15.7 percent (8-51) from the field, their worst outing of the season for both points and shooting percentage, in suffering their worst loss since a 99-61 stinging by Emporia State, on March 5, 1999 in the NCAA-II Regional Tournament.
ASU shot 27-54 (50.0 percent) from the field, and had three players in double-figures, led by Natalja Tsurbakova's 25 points, including the first eight points of the game. Sharon Ballenger added 19 points, including five 3-pointers, while Kelli Anne Goble chipped in with 11.
The game didn't start off very well for the Lady Buffs, as they went four minutes before getting on the scoreboard, as sophomore forward Keisha Monroe hit the second of two free throws at the 16:00 mark. However, by that time, ASU had bolted out off the gate for 10 points, the first eight by Tsurbakova. The Rambelles extended their lead to 18-1 with 13:48 to play.
Junior forward Celeste Stevenson hit WTAMU's first field goal at the 13:10 mark to make the score 18-3.
ASU opened a 32-8 lead with 6:03 remaining and the Lady Buffs' deficit remained over 20 for the rest of the half but was cut to 37-16 at the half on junior forward Vasha Adams' steal and half-court bank shot at the buzzer.
Adams, the LSC leader in steals, swiped five Saturday, giving her 88 for the season, a 3.3 steals per game average, which is fourth on WTAMU's single-season steals average list.
A trey from Howard made the score 40-19 50 seconds into the second half, but ASU erupted for a 21-2 run to take a 61-21 lead with 12:16 left in the game.
WTAMU never cut the margin to under 36 from there on out.
The Lady Buffs open the first-round of the LSC Tournament on Tuesday by hosting Tarleton State on Tuesday, March 2, at the WTAMU Event Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. If WTAMU wins Tuesday, it will host the LSC semifinals and championship game on Friday and Saturday.
For LSC Tournament ticket information, contact the WTAMU Ticket Office at 806-651-1414 or by clicking here to access the Ticket Office web page.
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