COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team will play the second game of their opening home stand of the season on Sunday afternoon, facing the St. Edward's University Hilltoppers.
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce vs. St. Edward's University
WHEN: Sunday, November 20 at 4 p.m.
WHERE: The Field House, Commerce, Texas
LIVE VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/tamucommerce/
LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=147053
The Lions are coming off of an 87-69 win over LeTourneau University. While head coach
Jason Burton was pleased to get a win, he hopes his team maintains its level intensity for a full 40 minutes, whether they are ahead by a wide margin or are trailing in the game.
"The first six minutes of the LeTourneau game were very positive," Burton said. "I thought we had the right focus when we came out to start the game. It was 21-4 at that point. Then if you take those first six minutes out of the game, the score was 66-65 after that. After we got up, we got content and I thought we settled."
The biggest bright spot Burton saw from his team was the play of two of his freshmen.
Jenna Price and
Victoria George each scored 12 points and were co-leading scorers in the game while each playing less than 20 minutes.
"They grew a lot," he said. "The energy they played with, I was very happy with Jenna and Victoria. They bring energy and some size. That is one of the things with our recruiting class, we got bigger."
Both players are taller than six feet and Burton likes the versatility they bring. While they are close to the same height, he likes the different things each player brings to his team. He likes the toughness inside the paint provided by George and the ability to guard the perimeter in a long wing like Price. He is confident both players will be special for his group as they grow and get used to collegiate competition.
"Both of those girls, all they know is to play hard," Burton said. "They are going to make mistakes, being young, but all the mistakes they make will be going at full speed. Their mistakes aren't as big because they tend to make up for them. If they turn the ball over, they are going to be the first ones back on defense. It's just fun to be able to have them and to mold them and to see the upper classmen mentor them and coach them."
The Lions now move on to St. Edward's. They beat the Hilltoppers in their matchup last season 67-53, but Burton knows the challenge the team brings. He is aware of SEU's ability to shoot well and rebound and hopes his team has a better showing on defense against the SEU sharpshooters.
"They have freshmen and sophomores who can really shoot the ball," he said. "The more comfortable they get, the scarier this team is going to be down the line. We have our work cut out for us. Pretty much everybody on the floor can shoot the ball. When you have a guard like [Shakera] Barnes who can get into the paint and create for others, and everyone else can shoot, that poses a lot of challenges. We have to make sure we close out to shooters. We have to be better defensively and better at rebounding if we want to win."
Burton likes the way his team is trending and the growth they have displayed in their first two weeks of the season. He understands the urgency to improve in rapid fashion, with the first four games of the conference season beginning in December.
"Conference starts sooner this year," Burton said. "With conference starting basically in less than two weeks, we've got to tighten up things a little quicker than normal. And that's what I've tried to stress with our team."
After facing St. Edward's, the Lions have two more road games against non-conference opponents before starting their conference season against Cameron on Dec. 1.
