LUBBOCK– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team defeated Metro State 71-66 on Saturday evening. The Lions led by as many as 11 in the contest.

The win brings the Lions to 1-1 on the season while MSU-Denver falls to 0-2 on the year.

The Lions return to action on Monday for a road match against No. 10 Lubbock Christian. The game will be played at 6 p.m. at the Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Ekaterina Zhibareva (Liske, Russia) led the team with 14 points, scoring three baskets and making seven free throws.
- Chania Wright (DeSoto) had 13 points. Princess Davis (Shreveport, La.) had 10 points and had a team-high five assists.
- Alexis Bryant (Pflugerville) had 10 points and five rebounds. Maddison Glass (Missouri City - Hightower) had nine points and led the team with six rebounds.
- The Lions shot 38 percent from the field. The Lions scored 15 points off of turnovers and also had 15 fast break points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was back and forth early in the first quarter as the teams traded early buckets. Midway through the quarter, the Lions held an 8-7 lead. The Lions then went on a run, scoring seven points in a row to push their lead to 15-7, including a three-pointer from Makayla Foy. Glass also hit a three and the Lions took a 20-13 lead into the second quarter.
 
The Lions pushed their lead to double digits before the Roadrunners battled back to cut the Lion lead to three points. The Lions pushed their lead back to seven points before MSUD went on a late run, taking a 33-32 lead into the half. Bryant led the Lions with eight points in the first half while Glass had seven and Foy had six. Davis had four points and four assists.
 
The Lions took the lead early in the third quarter and would not give it back the rest of the contest. Wright and Mykiel Burleson were scorers early for the Lions and Zhibareva had consecutive buckets midway through the quarter to bring the Lion lead back up to eight. The Roadrunners cut the Lion lead back to one before a late Lion run took them into the final quarter with a 53-47 lead.
 
The Lions brought their lead back up to double digits in the fourth quarter as Wright hit a jumper. Wright hit a three at the midway mark to give the Lions a seven-point lead. Metro went on a late run to give the Lions a scare. After trailing by nine, they went on a 9-1 run over a three-minute span to cut the Lion lead to just one point with 30 seconds left. Davis was fouled and sunk both of her free throws. After another quick layup from MSUD, Davis was fouled again and again hit her free throws. Zhibareva hit two more free throws late to put the game out of reach.