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Dec. 2, 2004

Box Score

The West Texas A&M University Lady Buff basketball team overtook the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Lady Bulldogs, 70-62, Thursday night in a Lone Star Conference crossover contest at the WTAMU Event Center. WTAMU outscored SWOSU, 20-7, over the final 6:40 of the game to claim head coach Bob Schneider's 999th all-time win.

Schneider will go for the milestone 1,000th all-time win Saturday night when the Lady Buffs host Cameron University in another LSC Crossover doubleheader with the WTAMU men, tipping off at 6 p.m.

Saturday's game will be sponsored by State Farm Bank and should the Lady Buffs win, fans will receive a mini-basketball commemorating Coach Schneider's feat, courtesy of State Farm Bank and Kenny Dean Insurance.

The milestone ceremony was in jeopardy of having to wait until the Lady Buffs' trip to Stephenville, Texas to face Tarleton State on Dec. 13 or even later to their trip to Hawaii. SWOSU hung with WTAMU, and the Bulldogs took a 21-18 lead with 9:25 left in the first half on a pair of free throws by Bethanie Bentz, who finished with 11 points, one of three SWOSU players in double-figures, led by Paige Adams' 14 points. Julie Dawson, who entered the game averaging 22.9 points and as the two-time reigning LSC North Player of the Week, finished with 12 points, including just four in the second half.

Dawson did pull down a team-high 10 rebounds, as the Bulldogs and Lady Buffs were deadlocked with 39 rebounds each.

WTAMU went on a 10-2 run to take a 30-23 lead with 3:59 to play in the first half, capped by one of two free throws from Celeste Stevenson. The junior forward posted her first double-double of the season and seventh of her career, tallying game highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds and dished out a career-high five assists.

The Bulldogs pulled to 30-28 with 1:45 to go on a pair of Dawson free throws and WTAMU took a 34-30 halftime lead.

SWOSU opened up a 46-40 advantage with 12:22 to play on a layup from Adams. After the Lady Buffs closed to 46-45, Adams later drilled a 3-pointer to give the Bullddogs a 53-47 lead with 7:35 to go.

Adams again gave SWOSU a big lead, this time at 55-50 with 6:40 to go. Nine seconds later, Petty sparked the Lady Buffs rally with a pair of free throws. Junior forward Vasha Adams hit a layup at 5:32 to draw WTAMU within 55-54 and junior guard Sassy Pyburn gave the Lady Buffs the lead at 56-55 on a jumper at the 4:59 mark.

Petty hit one of two free throws with 20 seconds left to put WTAMU up, 68-60, but SWOSU couldn't rally.

Pyburn netted 18 points, including 15 in the second half, while Petty finished with 11 points and doled out six assists.

The Lady Buffs shot 50.0 percent (12-24) from the field in the second half, and finished the night 25-59 (42.4 percent), including 36.8 percent (7-19) from behind the 3-point arc. WTAMU was 13-18 (72.2 percent) from the charity stripe, including 8-10 in the second half.

SWOSU was 23-60 (38.3 percent) from the field, going 4-23 (17.4 percent) from 3-point land. The Bulldogs shot 85.7 percent (12-14) from the free throw line.

Both teams committed 16 turnovers each, but WTAMU converted them into 16 points, while SWOSU only had two points off turnovers.

Cameron brings a 1-4 ledger into Saturday's game after losing 67-55 at Eastern New Mexico Thursday night.

Call the WTAMU Athletics Ticket Office at (806) 651-4424 for more information, or visit the official WTAMU Athletics web site at www.gobuffsgo.com.

-WT-