Lady Buffs Wrap-up LSC South Regular Season Title with Win over ACU

CANYON, Texas – For the second time this season, the Lady Buffs benefitted from late-game heroics from junior Courtney Lee as she converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 23 ticks left in the game to help lift West Texas A&M to a 60-58 victory over Abilene Christian on Wednesday night at the First United Bank Center. The victory solidified the Lady Buffs as the Lone Star Conference South Division Champions and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming league tournament in Bartlesville, Okla., while also pushing their home win streak to 45 games and avenging the squad’s only conference loss—the Lady Buffs dropped a hard-fought 71-66 overtime decision against ACU earlier this season at the Wildcats’ Moody Coliseum in Abilene, Texas. Lee finished the game with 21 points, her highest total this season, while fellow junior Emily Brister notched a game-high 25 points. Brister’s scoring tally set a new school record as she totaled 1,993 career points to eclipse Celeste Stevenson, who scored 1,988 from 2001-05. The first half was a battle as was expected from the top two teams in the LSC South standings as the squads exchanged the lead nine times and tied one another on two occasions. The period was a back and forth fight, with the largest lead in the half being four by the Wildcats with 5:15 to play, as Audrey Maxwell sank a lay-up; Maxwell led ACU in scoring with a team-high 25 points. It was the hot shooting of the Wildcats that proved to be one of the major factors in opening stanza, as they made 16-of-25 shots for a 64 percent team shooting percentage which allowed them to take a one-point lead at the 8:32 mark on a jumper by Jody Meyer; the lead would hold up for the majority of the remainder of the half. WT’s Dixie Bell struck the first blow of the second half as she drained a three-point basket on the first possession of the period to give the Lady Buffs their first lead since the 9:00 mark of the first half. The shot proved to be a sparkplug for the Lady Buffs, who jumped out to go on an 7-0 run in half, taking a 46-36 lead. The Wildcats would not be deterred, however, as they went on a 14-4 run of their own, tying the game on a Kristee Davidson free throw with 8:21 left on the clock. WT rebuilt its lead, going ahead by three on two made baskets from the charity stripe by Brister, but again ACU fought back to tie the game, 54-54, on Jamie Meyer’s dueling free throws at the 3:05 mark. Abilene Christian equalized the score twice more until Lee sank a lay-up, drew the foul and continued on to drain the go-ahead free throw with 23 seconds left in the game. On senior night, the Lady Buffs’ lone senior Jenessa McKray pulled with four seconds to play to secure the win for the Lady Buffs. Sophomore Holly Isaacs made one of two free throw attempts with two seconds on the clock to give the game its final score. For the game, the Lady Buffs shot 32.3 percent from the floor as compared to the Wildcats’ 44.4 percent shooting from field goal range; however, WT outshot Abilene Christian from behind the arc and from the free throw line to edge out its LSC foe. The Lady Buffs will conclude their regular season schedule this Saturday when they travel to Denton, Texas, to battle Texas Woman’s. Tip-off for the TWU contest is set for 2 p.m ARTICLE COURTESY: www.gobuffsgo.com