SAN ANTONIO– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team lost an overtime contest to St. Mary's on Tuesday. The Lions scored the first 15 points of the game but struggled in the second quarter. The Lions forced overtime but could not come out with the win.
 
The loss brings the Lions to 6-5 on the season. The Rattlers improve to 6-8 on the year.
 
The Lions will have the next 10 days off before returning to the court on Dec. 29. They will face UT San Antonio in an exhibition game. The game will start at 7 p.m. at the UTSA Convocation Center in San Antonio. The Lions' next regular season game will be a Lone Star Conference contest against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at the Field House in Commerce.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Artaejah Gay moved into seventh place all-time in field goals made. She led the Lions with 16 points to go along with six rebounds in a career-high 39 minutes.
- Brianna Wise had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, the second double-double of her A&M-Commerce career.
- Melanie Ransom had eight points and a team-high three assists.
- Jenna Price, Lauren Parker and Agang Tac had four points apiece. Princess Davis and Alex Nance both had three points.
- Both teams made the same number of shots and the same number of free throws. St. Mary's made two more threes.
- St. Mary's did not have a single point from its bench. The Lions had 26 bench points.
- The Lions had 21 turnovers in the game while St. Mary's had 19.
- The Lions scored the first 15 points of the game. St. Mary's missed its first 18 shots of the game.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions jumped out to a quick lead. Holland had a block on the first Rattler possession that led to a fast break layup. Davis then had a steal and a layup as the Lions jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. Gay then hit a three as the Lions led 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
 
The Lions continued to play hot in the first quarter, while the Lion defense was stifling. Price hit a layup and Gay had a three-point play to bring the Lion lead to 12. Nance hit a three pointer with 1:40 left to give the Lions the first 15 points of the game. St. Mary's finally got on the board with just over a minute left. Gay hit another layup to give her eight points in the quarter. The Lions led 17-5 after the first quarter.
 
Gay scored another jumper early in the second quarter as she moved into 8th place all-time in field goals made in program history. Wise also made a jumper as the Lions led 21-12 with 6:36 remaining. The Rattlers then started to climb back, scoring back-to-back layups to cut the Lion lead to just five points midway through the second quarter.
 
The Rattler defense continued to hold the Lions scoreless, keeping A&M-Commerce off the board for more than four minutes as they cut the lead to three points. Wise broke the scoreless streak by getting to the free throw line. StMU continued to rally however, ending the half on a 10-2 run. The Lions led 23-22 at halftime.
 
Gay had 10 points at halftime to lead all scorers. After missing their first 18 shots of the first half, the Rattlers went 10-of-19 to end the half. The Lions had 15 turnovers in the first half, which aided the Rattler comeback.
 
The Rattlers took their first lead of the contest early in the third quarter before Gay gave the Lions back the lead. Gay had another layup to give the Lions a 29-26 lead early. StMU then went on a 6-0 run to take the lead back, leading 32-29 midway through the third quarter.
 
The Rattlers pushed their lead up to four points before the Lions rallied to tie the game at 34. Tac had a layup and Wise hit a jumper to tie the game. Tac had another jumper late as the teams were tied at 36 entering the final quarter of play.
 
Wise made a jumper to give the Lions back the lead early in the fourth quarter. After the Rattlers took the lead back, Ransom hit a three to give the Lions the lead again. StMU then rallied, going on an 8-2 run to take their largest lead of the game, 45-40.
 
The teams split the next 10 points, with St. Mary's holding a 50-45 lead with three minutes to play. The Lions continued to fight, driving into the lane to get to the foul line. Wise hit two free throws and Davis had another to cut the lead to just two points with a minute to play.
 
After a Lion rebound, a missed shot forced A&M-Commerce to foul. After trying to get into the penalty, the Lions caught a break. Good defense from Ransom gave the Lions a chance as she got a steal with four seconds to play. The Lions called timeout to draw up a play. The play worked as Wise found space and scored a layup as the buzzer sounded to force overtime.
 
The Rattlers scored a three to take an early overtime lead. Ransom had a free throw and Wise scored a jumper to tie the game again with three minutes left in the overtime. The Rattlers scored a three with 1:43 left. After missing a shot, the Lions started to foul again, hoping to extend the game.
 
The Lions cut the lead to two points before fouling. St. Mary's made both free throws, bringing their lead back to four with 14 seconds left. The Lions missed a three but had a late layup on an offensive rebound. However, there was too little time on the clock and the Lions could not get another possession, falling by two.