COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team will face their final Division II game of the calendar year as they travel to face Henderson State on Saturday. That game will be followed by an exhibition game against UT Arlington on Sunday.
 
Game 1
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (7-3, 3-1 LSC) at Henderson State University (4-5, 4-0 GAC)
WHERE: Duke Wells Arena in Arkadelphia, Arkansas
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=139579
LIVE AUDIO: www.ketr.org
 
Game 2
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce at UT Arlington (6-2)
WHERE: College Park Center in Arlington, Texas
WHEN: Sunday, Dec. 18 at 5 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://www.utamavs.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wbaskbl.html?event=1495134&school=txar&sport=wbaskbl&camefrom=&startschool=&
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.utamavs.com/collegesportslive/?media=542075
LIVE AUDIO: www.ketr.org
 
The Lions are coming off of their longest road trip of the season, traveling to Eastern and Western New Mexico and back home in a span of three days. A&M-Commerce head coach Jason Burton liked how his team fought through the extra element of travel and improved as the week went on.
 
"I'm glad we got that one over," he said. "It's the toughest conference road trip of the year. I thought we didn't come to play defensively against Eastern but we learned and bounced back the next game and played well enough to beat Western New Mexico. I thought we made strives defensively."
 
The Lions held WNMU to just two points in the first quarter and 47 points total. Burton was proud of his team's defensive effort and knows his team can play that way in every game, because that is how the team is built.
 
"I think we can be really good," Burton said. "You look at the way this team is built with the length and the athleticism that we have, the ability to guard multiple positions that our players have and ultimately the ability to rebound defensively at a high-level. We can stop a lot of things. I think our length can bother people. We can contest shots. It's just a matter of communicating at a higher level right now. But having a focused mindset that getting stops is important is probably the most important thing we have to do. That is going to have to be an emphasis moving forward, especially tomorrow."
 
Just like other teams after an early stretch of games, the Lions are battling through minor dings and finding ways to win games. Burton is proud of his players who have stepped up in the face of adversity and for those who have battled through pain to keep playing.
 
"We've had adversity all year," Burton said. "We continue to battle through injuries and we have people who have stepped up and who need to continue to step up and play. I'm very proud of our girls. Hopefully we can continue to build on that. We are 3-1 to start conference and we have an important regional game coming up tomorrow. Hopefully we can end this year with a regional win and be 8-3."
 
The Lions face Henderson State on Saturday. The Reddies are undefeated in the Great American Conference. While not a conference game, Burton knows his team needs to treat the game like one because of the importance a regional game can mean down the road.
 
"Tomorrow is definitely going to be played like a conference game," he said. "You have to continue to have that mindset. It's a regional game so it's important for us as far as what this win could mean, or loss could mean come March. It's important that we go out and get a win tomorrow."
 
With the final regional game of the calendar year, Burton is confident his team won't start thinking ahead to their holiday break. He knows his team needs to be focused to be able to win.
 
"We have to be locked in to go in and beat a good team," Burton said. "They have some very young players but very good players. They are scoring the ball really well right now. It's going to be important for us to come out and have a focus to get stops. We are going to have the size advantage, so we need to finish inside. We are going to have opportunities against Henderson to get those shots and we've got to finish them."
 
The Lions will then face UT Arlington in an exhibition game on Sunday. The Mavericks are coming off of a win against ENMU on Dec. 11. The game will not count in the standings for the Lions, but Burton sees it as another opportunity for the team to grow. He also sees it as a game where he can experiment and give more players opportunities to showcase what they can do. He knows as his players gain experience, the more they can contribute down the stretch of the conference season.
 
"With UTA, it's an exhibition for us," Burton said. "We will use that to do a couple things, try some things out that we haven't tried before. We will get some people some playing time that we think will need to help us out after Christmas break and allow them to get some game minutes and some game reps and really evaluate some of those people and see what they look like. I look forward to that, seeing people get opportunities that they haven't had before to play and show what they can do."
 
A&M-Commerce will then break for the holidays before returning to action in January. They will face three more conference road games, starting against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 5. After six games on the road, the Lions will at last return home on Jan. 14 to face Texas Woman's University.