Dec. 20, 2006

Box Score

Portales, N.M. - For the eighth straight time, the West Texas A&M women's basketball team emerged victorious over their border rivals as the No. 9 Lady Buffs downed Eastern New Mexico, 85-65, on Wednesday at Greyhound Arena.

With the win, WTAMU improves to 10-1 this season and improves its Lone Star Conference South mark to 2-0, with both wins coming over the Zias. Eastern New Meixco, meanwhile, falls to 7-3 overall and 0-2 in the LSC South.

During the game's opening half, the Lady Buffs were carried by several key three point shots, including three by sophomore Emily Brister who paced the squad with 13 first half points. Also enjoying outstanding starts to the contest were senior post Kalee Carey, who collected eight points, five rebounds, and one block, and Natalie Wheeler, who contributed eight points and four rebounds to help the Lady Buffs take a 41-29 lead into the locker room at the intermission.

For the first period, WTAMU shot a solid 53.6 (15-for-28) percent from the field, while the Lady Buffs' pesky defense forced several inopportune shots by the Zias and held them to a 30.8 (8-of-26) shooting percentage during the half.

After the intermission, sophomore Courtney Lee paced the Lady Buff offense, scoring 14 of her total 19 points in the ballgame, finishing the contest with a perfect 11-of-11 mark from the free throw line.

Brister completed play as the game's leading scoring with 19 points, while Carey tallied her first double-double in a West Texas A&M uniform, finishing the meeting with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The Lady Buffs will now enjoy a few days of rest for the holidays before they return to the action on Dec. 29 when they travel out west to battle Cal State-San Bernardino in San Diego, Calif.