COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team will begin their longest road trip of the season on Thursday as they travel to Portales, N.M. to face Eastern New Mexico University.
 
WHO: Texas A&M University-Commerce (6-2) at Eastern New Mexico (4-2)
WHERE: Greyhound Arena in Portales, N.M.
WHEN: Thursday, December 8 at 6:30 p.m. CST
LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=150884
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.goeasternathletics.com/watch/?Live=611
 
The Lions come into the contest on a three-game win streak after knocking off Midwestern State on Saturday. The Lions trailed by 10 early in the second half before flipping the switch and running away with the game in the final 18 minutes. Head coach Jason Burton hopes the team learns from their second-half explosion and applies it for a full 40 minutes.
 
"We've got a trend of not playing in the first half the way we are supposed to," he said. "In the second half we came out and we played aggressive. We've got to remember that that's the team we are all the time, no matter who's on the floor or what point of the game we are in. When we do that, we are pretty good ball club."
 
The Lions came out of the locker room focused. After giving up eight of the first ten points of the quarter, the Lions finished the 3rd quarter on an 18-4 run and eventually went on a 31-6 run to take control of the game. After trailing by 10, they led by as many as 19 in the final quarter.
 
"I didn't even realize that we went on a 31- 6 run until I read the write up," Burton said. "We were just focused on winning the first five minutes of the third quarter. Then winning the next five minutes and just trying to get ahead. It was an impressive run, no doubt. I just wish we would start the game that way instead of getting down and having to play from behind."
 
A&M-Commerce leads the conference in offensive rebounding. They had 11 offensive rebounds in the second quarter against MSU and had 25 overall. While pleased with the way his team has crashed the boards, Burton said he would rather have a higher field goal percentage, because his team has struggled to shoot the ball, especially in the first half of games. They went 4-of-23 in the second quarter against MSU.
 
"I think we've gotten good looks on offense, we have just missed some open shots," he said. "I'm proud of our effort because I can just see where this team can go if we are actually making a higher percentage of shots and are still crashing offensive rebounds at a high rate. We can be a pretty good team but we've got to concentrate more on finishing plays. When you are missing as many shots as we are early on, it gives us an opportunity to be a good offensive rebounding team. I'm thankful that we are because otherwise we are probably 2-6 instead of 6-2."
 
The Lions now go on the road to face a confident Eastern New Mexico team who is also undefeated in conference play. The Lions haven't won in Portales since 2014, the year before Burton took over as coach. He knows his team will have to play the way they did in the second half against MSU for the entire game for them to have a chance to win.
 
"Eastern New Mexico is a place we've struggled the last two years," Burton said. "We've played close games but lost in both of them. Our returners realize that the last two years we haven't won out there. The fact that they are 2-0 in conference, essentially we are tied for first. We know it is only two games in but we are tied for first. It means something. We need to go out there and have a good showing."
 
The Greyhounds are coming off of a win on the road against West Texas A&M. Burton knows they will face a confident team but he also sees his own team maturing and playing with confidence. He said his team understands the importance of games on the road, especially conference games.
 
"I think our girls realize how important this game is, even if it is only December," Burton said. "We are playing a conference opponent. We will be ready for it. I'm thinking this team is starting to mature and realize that they have got to come bring it. We can't let what happened at Southeastern, our last road game, happen again. We can't get down that much at half time and expect to win, especially on the road against Eastern. They have too good of a team."
 
Burton said he is focused on channeling what his team has done in second halves of games and getting his team to play that way for an entire game. While he is happy his team has been able to win in crunch time, he knows his team can't rely on second half comebacks to happen every game.
 
"That's what we are working on right now is just that mentality to get up and start the game on that run," he said. "Because eventually that's going to catch up to us if we continue to get down in the first half. We are focused on what we need to be doing—getting stops and then pushing and running our offense and trying to get the ball into the paint and playing inside out."