COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team will head to Canyon to face West Texas A&M on Thursday. It will be a matchup of the teams tied for third place in the Lone Star Conference. The Lions defeated WT 78-60 at home earlier this season.
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (19-7, 13-5 LSC) at West Texas A&M (20-7, 13-5 LSC)
WHERE: First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/150984
LIVE VIDEO: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/wtamu/
LIVE AUDIO: www.ketr.org
The Lions are coming off of an 80-70 win over Texas Woman's University on Thursday. The Lions trailed by 11 points early in the fourth quarter but went on a 20-0 run in the final six minutes of the game to lead by as many as 13. Entering the final week of the regular season, head coach
Jason Burton hopes his team figures out how to play like that for an entire game.
"We are at the point of the season where we need to learn to bottle that up and play 40 minutes in a game that way," he said. "The thing about our team is we have so much fight. Fortunately, we have the mentality that no matter what the score is, our girls won't give up. They keep fighting. They have shown what they can do when they really turn it on. It wasn't just scoring. It was being able to get stops and the ability to persevere on the road against a really good team. I'm proud of their effort and what they've done."
A major part of the offensive firepower came from
Krystal Pickron, who was named LSC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. Burton was proud of one of his senior leaders, especially the way she was able to score when the Lions fell behind.
"She scored at times that we really needed baskets," he said of Pickron. "We were in a drought. She sparked us. She did a great job of getting to the free throw line last week and she really stepped up and hit some big threes in times that we needed it. Her energy and her performance down the stretch, we are going to need her to carry that on in the postseason and this week on the road."
The Lions also had the Defensive Player of the Week in
Jenna Price. She averaged 15.5 rebounds and was all over the court, something that Burton has seen from her all season.
"She is the only player in the conference that is averaging a double-double right now," he said of Price. "Just the way she rebounded in both games, it kind of kept us in the game. It got us stops and she got us a lot of second-chance shots against both teams. Her rebounding this year has really been huge for us. It is one of the reasons why we are one of the best rebounding teams in the country, because of her effort day in and day out."
Price and Pickron are two of five Lions who have been named Player of the Week, either on the offensive or the defensive end. No other team in the LSC has had more than three different players named POW. Burton feels spoiled with all of the players who can have a big impact on any given night.
"What I am most proud of is we have five different players that have gotten player of the week," he said. "No other team has done that right now. That shows that, at any given point, different players can step up and that has been our mentality all year. It's not just one or two people, it is our whole team. That's the reason why we are getting wins."
The Lions now face West Texas A&M for the second time this season. The Lions broke a 15-game losing streak to the Lady Buffs when they defeated them in Commerce 78-60 in January. The teams are tied for third place in the conference and trail Angelo State, the second place team, by just one game. Burton knows the team who wins the game between the two teams has a chance to move up to second place by season's end.
"Thursday will tell a lot," he said. "Angelo State plays Eastern New Mexico. Right now, Eastern has a share and they are battling to be outright champions. Hopefully they can get the win at home against Angelo. If they do, and we win out this week, we have the chance to finish in second. Right now, we are just trying to control what we can control and that's playing West Texas and trying to get a season sweep of them."
The last time the Lions defeated WT in Canyon was in 2005. A&M-Commerce has defeated WT just twice on the road in its history. The Lions swept the season series in 2001, the only time it has happened in program history.
"Canyon is just a tough place to play," Burton said. "They are playing really good basketball right now. They lost their last game to Angelo but they lost by two and they were on a huge winning streak before. It is going to be a tough game on Thursday. It is definitely a big week for us as we continue to try and climb the regional polls and try to make the NCAA Tournament. This is a big game for us and an opportunity to go out and get a win against a team that is ranked ahead of us in the region."
