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Dec. 13, 2004

Box Score

STEPHENVILLE, Texas --- The 22nd-ranked West Texas A&M University Lady Buff basketball team committed 24 turnovers and shot a season-low 31.1 percent from the field and suffered a 70-60 loss to Tarleton State University Monday night in a Lone Star Conference crossover contest at TSU's Wisdom Gymnasium.

WTAMU found themselves down from the 15:03 point of the first half and never recovered, as the Lady Buffs showed signs of their nine-day layoff, and had their three-game winning streak snapped and are now 4-2 overall on the year.

TSU won its second-straight game and evens its record at 4-4.

WTAMU had three players in double-figures, led by senior forward Vasha Adams netted a season-high 19 points to go with eight rebounds and a game-high six steals. Fellow senior forward Celeste Stevenson tallied 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds, coming up one board short of her seventh career double-double. Junior guard Sassy Pyburn posted 13 points as well.

TSU was led by 13 points apiece from Katie Crawford and Amanda Franklin, while Franklin and ArcTrena Stills pulled down eight rebounds each, helping the TexAnns to a 47-46 rebounding advantage.

WTAMU was 19-61 (a season-low 31.1 percent) from the field, including 3-15 (20.0 percent), also a season-low. The Lady Buffs were 19-32 (59.4 percent) from the free throw line.

TSU shot 24-63 (38.1 percent) from the field and 5-23 (21.7 percent) behind the 3-point arc. The TexAnns were 17-23 (73.9 percent) from the charity stripe.

The TSU bench also outscored the WTAMU reserves, 23-9.

TSU pulled away from a 5-5 tie at the 15:23 mark with an 8-0 run to open a 13-5 lead with 13:52 to go and eventually stretched the lead to 21-9 with 10:36 left in the half following consecutive 3-pointers from Crawford and Casey Davies.

After the Lady Buffs closed to 23-15 with 9:38 on the clock after a trey from senior guard Suni Jo Petty, the TexAnns stretched their lead to 36-20 with 4:29 left after a 3-pointer from Franklin.

WTAMU dropped the deficit to 40-28 at halftime after back-to-back buckets from Pyburn.

The Lady Buffs shot a paltry 9-27 (33.3 percent) from the field in the first half, while the TexAnns were 14-35 (40.0 percent) from the floor.

TSU outrebounded WTAMU, 25-21, and converted the 13 Lady Buff turnovers into 14 points, while WTAMU forced 13 TSU turnovers that led to six points.

The TexAnn lead swelled to 50-33 on a layup from Tamisha McGinty at the 13:39 mark.

The Lady Buffs cut the gap to 59-51 with 4:49 to go on a pair of free throws from Stevenson.

A Pyburn free throw narrowed the score to 62-56 with 1:21 to go, but the Lady Buffs couldn't get any closer.

WTAMU will head to Honolulu, Hawaii to participate in the Hoop `N Surf Classic Dec. 19-20. The Lady Buffs will face Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Sunday, Dec. 19 at 3 p.m. Central Time and will take on Northwest Missouri State University on Monday, Dec. 20 at 1 p.m. Central Time.

WTAMU returns home to host Adams State College on Thurday, Dec. 30 at 6 p.m., followed by the WTAMU men vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State University at 8 p.m.

-WT-