COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team will face Tarleton State on Tuesday. The contest will be the final game of a seven-game road stand for the Lions.
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (9-4, 4-2 LSC) at Tarleton State (5-7, 4-2 LSC)
WHERE: Wisdom Gym in Stephenville, Texas
WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 5:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=150941
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.tarletonsports.com/showcase?Live=771
LIVE AUDIO: www.ketr.org
 
The Lions are coming off of a long road trip, traveling to Kingsville on Thursday and San Angelo on Saturday. The Lions defeated A&M-Kingsville 78-71 but fell to No. 5 Angelo State by the same score. Despite the loss, head coach Jason Burton was proud of the way his team played.
 
"I thought that that was one of our best team games that we played," he said. "If you start looking over the season, the things we didn't do well, I thought we did well against Angelo. We shot a high percentage, which is something we haven't done really all year. We shared the ball and got assists. I thought we responded well to the runs they had, for the most part. We came into the game and competed. We did a really good job of following the game plan. On the road it's always going to be tough to win, especially against the No. 5 team in the country."
 
The Lions held ASU to their lowest field goal percentage of the season. Burton liked the way his team bought in completely to the game plan.
 
"I thought it was tremendous," he said of his team's defense. "I thought that there were a couple of opportunities where they got second chance shots and we let them get to the free-throw line. Those two things right there in the end hurt us. The thing about really good teams is that they capitalize on your mistakes. They had 20 points off second-chance shots and 20 points off of turnovers. Our 18 turnovers hurt us and we've got to do a better job taking care of the ball. But as a team we stepped up and guarded well."
 
Burton has seen a rise in his team's confidence as of late. Taking the No. 5 team in the conference down to the wire in their own building is something else he thinks will bolster his team and help them down the stretch of the season.
 
"We've had a steady increase in our confidence every game we played, especially after Christmas," Burton said. "We have played well on the road. I think how we came and played at Angelo and our attention to detail as of late has been a lot better. I'm anxious to see how we play tomorrow on the road. We are at the end of a long stretch right here where we've played seven games in a row on the road. I'm also anxious to be back at home and have a chance to play a good stretch of games at home."
 
The Lions face one final road game before returning home. They will take on Tarleton State. While sporting a 5-7 record on the season, the Texanns are 4-2 in conference play. Burton knows TSU is playing with the same type of confidence his team is, having taken ASU to overtime on Thursday.
 
"Their non-conference schedule was tough but since conference play has started, they are 4-2 just like we are," Burton said. "They've played the same teams we have. They've beaten the same teams we have and have lost to the same teams we have. It's a very good team and Stephenville is always a tough place to play. It's tough to go to Wisdom Gym and get a win."
 
Burton likes the way his team has played since returning from the holiday break. However, he knows there are still improvements that can be made and he hopes his team can build upon the strides they have made in their last two games. He knows it will take a complete effort to defeat TSU on its home floor.
 
"We need to clean up the things that we didn't do well against Angelo," he said. "We are going to have to continue to make shots. I thought we did a good job of doing that the last two games. But we've got to do a better job at the free throw line. I think we've got to shoot more free throws. We've kind of gotten away from that. But when we get to the free throw line, we've got to knock those down."
 
TSU sports the leading scorer in the conference in Mackenzie Hailey, who was named Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. She is averaging 20.2 points in conference action. Burton knows his team needs to play needs to play with the same intensity they did against ASU if they want to keep the TSU offense under control.
 
"They have the leading scorer in the conference right now and she is playing really well," he said. "They've got some talented players over there. We've got to come out and guard again. And we're going to have to really rebound. I think we have a chance to use our strength of offensive rebounding and getting second chance shots. But we've really got to defend. They've started to score of the ball as of late and we are going to have to guard the leading scorer in the conference and make sure their other shooters don't go off as well."