COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team begins its five-game road swing with contests against Western New Mexico and Eastern New Mexico.
 
Western New Mexico
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (14-6, 10-2 LSC) vs. Western New Mexico (0-20, 0-12 LSC)
WHERE: Drag's Court in Silver City, N.M.
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 1 at 6:30 p.m. CST (5:30 p.m. MST)
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: portal.stretchinternet.com/wnmu/
LIVE AUDIO: ketr.org
 
Eastern New Mexico
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce vs. Eastern New Mexico (11-8, 7-5 LSC)
WHERE: Greyhound Arena in Portales, N.M.
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. CST (2 p.m. MST)
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: Click HERE
LIVE AUDIO: ketr.org
 
The Lions went 2-1 last week, getting big wins over Dallas Christian and LSC rival Midwestern State. The Lions then fell to a hot shooting Cameron team. Head coach Jason Burton liked the way his team played on a short week, although he knows the team has some things to clean up after the Cameron game.
 
 
"We had a little shorter week to prepare for Midwestern and Cameron and turned around Thursday and played very well against a Midwestern team that beat us the first time around," Burton said. "That is always a good feeling to avenge that loss that we had. Then a quick turnaround against Cameron. One thing about Cameron that you kind of fear is they are very capable of shooting the ball well. We didn't do the best job on Saturday of closing out on shooters. We gave them too many uncontested shots and they capitalized on them."
 
Burton liked the way his team played offensively against the Aggies but credited Cameron and their coach for getting the better of the Lion defense. Burton looks for his defense's communication to improve because of the game.
 
"You look at the game and we didn't turn the ball over, we outrebounded them. I thought we got the ball where we wanted in the paint and got several and-1s down the stretch. It was just every time we went on a run, they would hit us with a three. I am proud of our girls' effort. I think we saw some things in that game that we can work on. Our communication has got to get better defensively, especially on the road. That is something we will work on this week and we will tighten up some things defensively."
 
Burton liked the way his offense played last week and hopes to see it continue to play well on the road. Burton was especially proud of Princess Davis for her output against the Aggies. He knows the team has multiple weapons that can go off in any given game.
 
"I am very confident in our offense and our ability to move the ball around," he said. "We have multiple people that can shoot the ball. You look at Princess Davis, she is somebody people think can't shoot but she had her best career performance ever on Saturday. She went 5-for-9 from three and had 31 points. I have a lot of confidence in her and a lot of confidence in this team moving forward."
 
With their win over Midwestern State, the Lions now have wins over every team in the Lone Star Conference. While the milestone does nothing to help the team win games, Burton sees it as something that will be beneficial down the road. His team now knows they can beat anyone in the conference, if they give their own best effort and performance.
 
"It gives us a lot of confidence in the conference tournament knowing that we can beat anybody on any given night," he said. "But I think the Cameron game was a wakeup call too because now that we have beaten teams, they are going to want that payback on us. We have to make sure we come in more focused. We have to make sure we prepare just as hard this time around as we did the first time. I think we really took our scout seriously and focused in on the opponent at hand and not looking ahead."
 
The Lions start their five-game road trip with a 15-hour excursion to Silver City to face the Mustangs of Western New Mexico. While the Mustangs are winless on the year, Burton sees an improving team that will not go down easily, especially at home.
 
"I know they are 0-20 right now and we did a good job at home beating them but they just played West Texas in Canyon and only lost by 12," he said of WNMU. "With them going back home, if I am Western New Mexico, I'm going to have confidence that they are continuing to get better. We have to make sure that we continue to get better and go out to Western New Mexico focused and ready to play."
 
The Lions will then travel across the state to face Eastern New Mexico. The trip is a tough one, as Burton and his staff found out last year. The team will do its best to compensate for the time missed on the court and the adverse conditions of the trip.
 
"As a staff, we have looked at this six-game stretch that we have and it is our toughest stretch of the year. It is our job to make sure we prepare our girls the best way possible. Sometimes that means scaling back in practice and focusing on scouting reports and making sure they get rest and get off their feet. Our girls are going to have to be ready to play with less prep time on the floor and more scout time. At this point of the year, we know what we have to do. A lot of it is maintaining our bodies."
 
While the travel conditions are another obstacle to overcome, Burton won't allow them to become an excuse for performance. He has preached overcoming adverity all season and he expects his team to rise to the occasion.
 
"At this point of the year, we don't give ourselves excuses," he said. "We are sitting in first place right now and at the end of the day, we want to stay in first place after every game we play. It doesn't matter where we are, we have to prepare ourselves for adversity. Our season is going to be determined by how we face adversity. That is something everybody has to face. It is no different for us."
 
– 30 –
 
Lion Athletics Mission:  Committed to a "Best in Class" student-athlete experience