Lady Buffs Tame Mustangs

WICHITA FALLS, Texas – A stifling Lady Buff defensive effort forced 31 turnovers which led to 44 points as the No. 17 West Texas A&M women’s basketball team cruised to an 89-51 rout of Midwestern State Wednesday night at D.L Ligon Coliseum. The 89-point output on offensive ties a season-high for the Lady Buffs, matching an 89-point performance against New Mexico Highlands on Nov. 23.

The victory improves the Lady Buffs’ overall mark this season to 17-4 including a 7-1 mark in Lone Star Conference South Division play. The Mustangs, meanwhile, fall to 9-13 on the season and 3-6 in league action.

Junior All-American Emily Brister, the LSC’s leading scorer, produced a game-high 18 points in the contest, but was not alone on the list of Lady Buff standouts. Junior Chelsea Blackshear tied a career-high with 17 points, a figure which included a 5-of-6 shooting mark for three-point range, and junior Jamie Dreiling finished with 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field.

The Lady Buffs got off to a cold shooting start in the contest, missing their first five shots from the field before getting their first two points on a pair of Brister free throws at the 16:52 mark. A three-pointer by Dreiling at 16:15 gave the Lady Buffs their first field goal of the night and a 5-2 advantage. Following a steal by Courtney Lee, a Dreiling lay-up extended the WT run to 7-0, which after MSU netted the game’s opening field goal, gave the visitors a 7-2 lead.

Holly Isaacs’s three-pointer at the 15:00 mark gave the Buffs a 10-2 advantage, but MSU’s Brandy Moore answered with a long distance shot of her own on the ensuing Mustang possession. The Moore three was the start of a 5-0 run by the Mustangs which got them back at the game but still left them trailing, 12-7.

Back-to-back baskets by Brister and a three-pointer from Blackshear gave the Buffs their first double-digit lead at 17-7 with 12:15 to play.

Another long distance shot from Blackshear was followed by a steal and layup by freshman Joni Unruh at the 8:22 mark, giving the Lady Buffs a 30-11 advantage.  Turnovers were a problem for MSU in the game’s first 20 minutes as the home squad was guilty of 17 in the period, leading to 24 Lady Buff points.

Another Isaacs three-pointer with just under four minutes to play pushed the WT lead to 40-18. The lead swelled to as many as 23, 41-18, at the 3:12 mark on a free throw by Megan McLain and from that point, the Lady Buffs cruised into halftime with a 43-26 lead.

After missing their first five shots of the period, WT found its groove, making 15 of their next 28 shots, for a percentage of 53.5. Dreiling and Brister topped the stat sheet at halftime with 11 points apiece.

Dixie Bell got the Lady Buffs’ second half off the same torrid pace that the first ended, sinking a three-pointer on WT’s opening possession of the period, spurring a 7-2 Lady Buff run.

Isaacs and Blackshear hit three-pointers within a minute and a half of one another to give the Lady Buffs a 59-35 lead with 13:07 to play in the game

WT’s Lee, who had been held scoreless in the first half, made her first basket at the 11:50 mark of the second half and added another running jumper during the Lady Buffs’ next trip down the court. The Arlington, Texas, native finished with four points on the night.

After forcing 31 turnovers against Midwestern State last Saturday, WT has now forced 62 turnovers in their last two games.

The Lady Buffs return to action at home this Saturday as they host rival Eastern New Mexico in a 6 p.m. contest at the First United Bank Center.