COMMERCE– The Texas A&M-Commerce women's basketball team got a dramatic 80-70 win over Texas Woman's University on Thursday night. The Lions finished the game on a 20-3 run to win, holding TWU scoreless for over six minutes in the final period.
 
The win brings the Lions to 19-7 on the season and 13-5 in the Lone Star Conference. TWU drops to 15-10 on the season and 8-9 in conference play.
 
The Lions now enter the final week of the regular season. They will travel to face West Texas A&M on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The game will take place in the First United Bank Center in Canyon.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions have 19 wins, tying the second-most by a team in program history.
- With the win, the Lions have now defeated every team in the Lone Star Conference at least once.
- Krystal Pickron led the Lions with 22 points, shooting 11-of-13 from the free throw line. She also had three steals.
- Natalie Hessong had a career-high 16 points, scoring 13 points in the second half. She did it all in 16 minutes.
- Artaejah Gay scored 15 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Khala Riley had 10 points and a team-high six assists.
- Jenna Price pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds.
- The Lions held TWU scoreless for more than six minutes and went on a 20-0 run in the final five minutes of the game. TWU missed 13 consecutive shots before a late basket fell in the final 10 seconds.
- The Lions scored 17 points off of 18 TWU turnovers and scored 17 second chance points.
- Kenesha Saygo had 18 points to lead TWU. Alexis Nezianya added 17 points and KJ Stastny had 14 points for the Pioneers.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions committed two turnovers right out of the gate and TWU jumped out to a quick 4-0 behind two Spector jumpers. Pickron go the Lions on the board in the second minute of the game.
 
The Lions caused two TWU turnovers early in the game but could not get their shots to fall early. Midway through the quarter, the Lions trailed 12-4.
 
After the midpoint timeout, the Lions offense woke up, scoring seven unanswered points to cut down the Pioneer lead. The Lions were able to break through the tight TWU defense for two layups and also got to the foul line. The Pioneers went on a late rally and led 18-13 after one.
 
TWU scored seven of the first nine points of the second quarter to take a double digit lead with six minutes to play in the half. Trailing by eight with three minutes to play, Pickron made two trips to the foul line to cut the lead back down to three. However, TWU ended the half strong and hit a jumper at the buzzer to go into halftime with a 32-25 lead.
 
Pickron led the Lions with nine points in the first half. Gay added four points and Price had 10 rebounds in the first half. The Lions shot 25 percent in the second quarter.
 
Stastny led TWU with 11 first half points, hitting all three of her shots from downtown. Saygo added nine points for the Pioneers. TWU shot 44 percent from the field in the first half.
 
TWU pushed its lead to double digits early in the second half. The Lions started to hit their shots in the third quarter. They also got to the line with regularity. The Lions shot 6-of-8 from the field and 16-of-18 from the free throw line in the third quarter. However, TWU continued to hit its shots as well. With a three-point play from Saygo, TWU took its largest lead of the game, going up 55-41 with three minutes to play in the third quarter.
 
The Lions ended the quarter on a run, scoring eight unanswered to cut the lead to six. Gay hit two shots as part of the run and the Lions trailed 60-53 at the end of the third quarter.
 
TWU brought its lead back up to 11 early in the fourth quarter before the Lions took over the game. Hessong came into the game and hit a three right away to cut the lead down. The Pioneers hit a free throw with six minutes to play, but then didn't score again until the closing seconds.
 
Hessong hit another shot from deep and got to the free throw line in the fourth quarter. The Lion defense also clamped down to end the game. TWU missed 13 consecutive shots while the Lions scored 20 unanswered.
 
Pickron also came on strong late. She had a three-point play and hit a three pointer and the Lions led by as many as 13, hitting free throws down the stretch.