COMMERCE, TEXAS – The Lion women (11-7; 5-3 in LSC) secured two tough conference wins last week, and will look to continue that trend Wednesday when head coach Jason Burton's squad heads to Oklahoma to take on the Cameron Aggies (9-8; 6-2 in LSC).
 
The last time the Lions and Aggies met was back on January 14, when Cameron visited the Field House. The Lions did an excellent job of disrupting head coach Tom Webb's game plan, limiting Jazzmine Robinson, the top-scorer and third most prolific rebounder in the conference, to a nine point, seven rebound afternoon. Yet stepping up to fill the scoring void for the Aggies was reserve guard Charron Montgomery, who put on a flawless shooting display by going 7 of 7 from the field and 4 of 4 from the line, helping the Aggies escape the Field House with a 65-64 win. Fans can tune in to hear the Lions gambit at revenge on either 88.9 KETR or 107.1 Thunder Country. A video feed will be made available courtesy of cameronaggies.com.
 
The Lions will ride the hot hand of senior guard Ashlee Johnson, who was named LSC Defensive Player of the Week for her stalwart play against Texas Woman's and Tarleton State last week. Johnson, the fourth-best player in the conference at generating steals, averaged 3.5 on the week, better than her season average of 1.9. Against the TexAnns, she matched her career-high in rebounds with eight, and flirted with a triple double by also scoring 11 points and 7 assists.
 
Johnson wasn't the only player to have a career week for the Lions. Junior guard Gabby Scott had a career night against TSU, sinking a career-high 22 points on a career-high six three-pointers, the latter of which doubled her previous record of three. Scott has now scored in double-digits in five consecutive games, and has set and reset her career-high in scoring three times over that span. Also of note, freshman forward Artaejah Gay recorded the first double-double of her collegiate career against the TexAnns with an 11-10 night. Her ten rebounds was yet another career-night for the Lions.
 
Rounding out the key-contributors for the Lions are the members of their prolific, veteran frontcourt. Senior forward Abigail Leaupepe-Tele set a career-high against Texas Woman's last Wednesday with a heroic 15 rebound performance, helping lift the Lions in their thrilling come-from-behind overtime win. Senior La'Tisha Hearne is ever-impactful on the glass, having recorded four double-doubles over the course of the season. Lastly, junior center Kiana Evans has been a sturdy and reliable force down-low. Through her past five games, she's averaged 11.6 PPG while shooting a highly efficient 62.2 percent (23 of 37) from the field and 92.3 percent from the line (12 of 13).
 
The Aggies are having a resurgent year following a 2013-14 campaign which saw them finish eighth in the conference with a 5-11 record against LSC-competition. Having already surpassed that mark with eight games still to go in the regular season, CU's success starts with senior guard Jazzmine Robinson. Perhaps the most dynamic threat in the conference, Robinson is top-five in five different categories: scoring (18.2 PPG, first), field goal percentage (46.5%, second), rebounding (8.3 RPG, third), steals (1.6 SPG, fifth) and assists (3.2 APG, fifth). Though the Lions did a good job at stopping her in their first meeting, Robinson is a dangerous cover for any team, and will be the first priority for coach Burton's defensive scheme to address.
 
Outside of Robinson, the Aggies are the top team at scoring behind the arc, thanks in large part to guards Jade Herl and Brandi Leal. Each player is top-three in the conference in both threes per game (3.7 and 2.6) and three-point percentage (40.4 and 40.1 percent). That means they shoot a high volume of threes, and a high percentage of them go in. Herl is also relied upon more than any other player in the conference, averaging more minutes per game (33.4) than any other player. Also of note, reserve forward DJ Vallier had a monstrous game against the Lions in their last game with a whopping six blocks.  She ranks third in the LSC in blocks per game with 1.3.
 
On paper, Cameron is the better shooting team, particularly from three-point range, where they are the best team in the conference at 39.2 percent. They've also demonstrated better ball-security than the Lions on the season, averaging 1.8 fewer turnovers per game (16.1 vs. 17.9). A&M-Commerce on the other hand are far superior in the rebounding department (41.2 vs. 36.4), where they are the best team in the conference. Also to the Lions' advantage are assists (13.8 vs. 11.8) and steals (8.1 vs. 6.8).
 
Wednesday will be the 42nd time the Lions and Aggies have gone at it dating back to the 1987-88 season. A&M-Commerce has the narrowest of advantages with a 21-20 all-time record against Cameron.
 
Tipoff is scheduled for February 4 at 5:30 P.M. in the Aggie Gym. After that, the Lions will return to Commerce for a two-game home-stand, where they will play Midwestern State (16-3; 7-2 in LSC) and A&M-Kingsville (0-18; 0-8 in LSC).