COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team will face Tarleton State on Tuesday. The Pioneers defeated the Lions back in January.
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (18-7, 12-5 LSC) at Texas Woman's (15-9, 8-8 LSC)
WHERE: Kitty Magee Arena in Denton, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/150970
LIVE VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/twupioneers/portal.htm?eventId=324754&streamType=video
 
The Lions are coming off of a 74-64 win over Tarleton State on Tuesday. The Lions struggled from the field in the first half but turned the game around, shooting 70 percent in the fourth quarter.
 
"I thought we played well," head coach Jason Burton said of the first half performance. "We got the shots that we wanted. We got shots around the basket. We did a great job of attacking the offensive glass. We had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half. We got great shots and great looks, we just missed point-blank layups."
 
After struggling to hitshots in the first 16 minues of the game, the Lions responded to only be down by two at halftime. Burton knew if his team kept playing the way it was, the shots would eventually fall.
 
"I knew that if we got those looks in the second half that things would be different," he said. "We turned it around shooting in the second half. We shot 70 percent in the fourth quarter and above 50 percent for the half. A lot of that was just making sure we concentrated better and finished plays. We got the same good looks. We did a good job of getting the ball into the paint. In the second half, we capitalized."
 
With the win, the Lions now have 18 wins, tied for the third most in a regular season in program history. While Burton is proud of where his program has come in his first three seasons as coach, he knows now isn't the time to think about history. It is time to think about the present.
 
"We are not looking at that right now," he said. "We are just trying to find ways to finish the year off the best we can. We are in a good position right now to finish in the top two. To finish in second place would be huge for the conference tournament as far as getting a day of rest between the first and second round. If we can do that, that puts us in a good position to win the conference tournament. And then we are just trying to find a way to make it into the NCAA tournament. That is something that hasn't happened in a long time and something we want for this team and these seniors. We are taking it one game at a time and trying to find ways to beat the team in front of us."
 
The Lions now travel to Denton to take on Texas Woman's University in a rematch of a game in mid January. The Lions lost to TWU by six. While complimenting the coaching and the play of TWU in that game, Burton knows his team didn't execute to their abilities in the loss.
 
"I didn't think we played well," he said. "Not taking anything away from Texas Woman's because I think coach Beth has done a great job. But I didn't think we gave them our best shot. I didn't think we had a lot of energy in that game. The stakes are higher right now. We are going to go into a hostile environment but we've got to go in and continue to play like we have played. We have been playing really well lately. We have to continue to play defense and execute offensively. If we can do that, we will put ourselves in good position to win the game."
 
One of the players the Lions will focus on is Kenesha Saygo. She leads the conference in scoring and causes problems for opposing defenses. Burton knows the team will need to try and contain her without leaving other spots on the floor wide open.
 
"I don't know necessarily if you can slow her down," he said of Saygo. "But we definitely want to make things tough on her and put her in position to have to take tough shots. And you don't want everyone else to go off. You have to make sure that you do a good job of playing team defense. She will still find ways to go and score because she is that good of a player but we definitely want to make it tough for her and make sure we do everything we can to limit them to one shot. That is something that we let slip when we played them.
 
After TWU, the Lions have just one week before the conference tournament. The Lions will have a week between games to take a short rest before a push that Burton hopes goes a long way past Allen and a long time in March.
 
The good thing about this little stretch that we are on right now, they have a chance to have a few days off. They get Friday, Saturday and Sunday to get away from basketball, to relax and heal up and be rested going into a long March. Hopefully it's not just four games left. We've made the conference tournament but our plan is to win the conference tournament and have a chance to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. Hopefully they get a chance to rest this weekend after a win tomorrow."