COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team will host Western New Mexico on Thursday. The Lions defeated the Mustangs 61-47 in December and are looking for the season sweep as they start a five-game home stretch.
The game is part of the Night of Champions and is a Blue Out. Fans are encouraged to wear blue to the game.
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (14-6, 8-4 LSC) vs. Western New Mexico (4-15, 0-12 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/147060
LIVE VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/tamucommerce/
LIVE AUDIO: www.ketr.org
TICKETS: http://lionathletics.com/sports/2016/11/18/2016-17-basketball-ticket-information.aspx
The Lions are coming off of a road trip in which they defeated Midwestern State by five and fell to Cameron by two in the final minute. Head coach
Jason Burton liked the way his team battled in two hostile environments.
Cameron and Midwestern are two teams that are really fighting and playing well right now," he said. "To go and beat Midwestern, and both games we had the flu and had been battling that last week. And to go to Cameron and to lose a two-point game that could have gone either way. I thought our girls played well, our team played well. We played at a high level."
A&M-Commerce now moves on to face Western New Mexico. The Lions defeated the Mustangs 61-47 in December. While they got the win, Burton didn't think his team played very well. The Lions struggled from the field and had 20 turnovers in the game.
"We just watched that game," Burton said. "Our whole team was in agreement that we didn't go out and perform well that game and we still walked away with a win. They realize, especially with how things have shaped up recently, that we have to play well and be consistent in our play."
The Lions were locked in defensively, holding the third leading scorer in the conference, Jordan Gutierrez, to a season-low six points. Burton knows his team will have to keep her in check again, but is confident in his defense.
"We have done a really good job defensively, keying in on game plans," he said. "I thought we put together a good game plan for Jordan last time and some other players stepped up and scored for them. We will put together a similar game plan and we will be ready. We are playing at a high level right now. I don't think it will be any different on Thursday."
The game will be the first of five consecutive home games for A&M-Commerce. With only eight games to go, Burton understands how important this stretch is, especially with five games at home.
You have to protect your home court," he said. "That's something that has been a high-level of importance for us all year. And thus far we have, with the exception of TWU, and I thought we came out flat that game. They realize we have got to take advantage of these five games at home because these five games can definitely set us up for a good place in the postseason, both in conference and regionally."
With rematches against the two teams ahead of the Lions still on the schedule, plus significant games against teams who are close in the standings, Burton knows his team needs to perform well.
"Our attention to detail and our focus has got to be really high in the next few weeks," he said. "Hopefully we can get a five-game winning streak going into our last three games on the road."
