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Dec. 28, 2007

Box Score

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - No. 20 West Texas A&M women's basketball improved to 6-2 on the season after beating St. Thomas Aquinas, 79-40, in the opening game of the South Padre Sports Tour on Friday. With the win, the Lady Buffs advance to the championship game where they will face No. 6 Drury (8-1), who reached the final by beating Mansfield by a 79-48 margin.

"I thought it was a good team victory after having 20 days off since our last game," said head coach Krista Gerlich. "We got good production from our entire group, anyone we put in did really well for us."

All but one Lady Buff notched points in the win, with junior Emily Brister leading the way with 15 points and fellow classmates Jamie Dreiling and Courtney Lee right behind her with 14 and 12, respectively.

Brister opened West Texas A&M's scoring with a three-pointer just 37 seconds into the game as the Lady Buffs held the lead for the rest of the game. Dreiling contributed 10 of her 14 points in the opening stanza while Chelsea Blackshear led with five rebounds.

In the last 6:57 of the half, the Lady Buffs held St. Thomas Aquinas to just seven points as they went on a 22-7 run; eight different players scored during the offensive push to help West Texas A&M enter halftime with a 21 point lead at 37-16.

The second half saw WTAMU stretch its lead to 26 points as Dreiling, Lee, Blackshear and Brister each scored in the first 2:33. The Lady Buffs' advantage was too much for St. Thomas Aquinas to overcome as Blackshear grabbed a team-high four steals and tallied eight points while Lee and freshman Cherilyn McMenamy each pulled down a team-leading six rebounds.

Junior Dixie Bell played stand-up defense against St. Thomas Aquinas' point guard, holding her well below her average points per game mark and making her a non-factor.

"Dixie set the tone by taking [Takiyah Ingram] out of the game early on. Ingram is their toughest player--she's averaging 19 points per game and Dixie held her to only 12 and caused her to make nine turnovers," said Gerlich.

Freshman Megan McLain also added eight points of her own in addition to two steals and senior Jenessa McKray sank 2-for-3 from the floor and a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line.

Saturday's championship game will feature No. 20 West Texas A&M against No. 6 Drury, slated to tip off at 8 p.m.

"I think tomorrow's game will be a great match-up, probably the toughest one we've had this year," said Gerlich. "It's a great game for late December, especially just before conference play begins next month."