COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team defeated Texas A&M-Kingsville 87-38 on Saturday afternoon. The Lions jumped out to an early lead and kept on building it throughout. The 49-point win set a program-record for the largest margin of victory in a Lone Star Conference game.
 
The win brings the Lions to 4-4 on the season and 1-1 in the Lone Star Conference. The Javelinas fall to 2-5 and 0-2 in conference play.
 
The Lions will take an extended break before returning to action. Their next contest will be a home game on Dec. 18 against Northeastern State. The game will be played at 2 p.m. at The Field House. Tickets for the game are available at WeAreLionsTix.com, by calling (903) 468-8756 or by visiting the Lion Sales & Service Box Office in the Field House.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions led by as many as 52 in the game. The 49-point margin of victory set a program record for highest margin of victory in an LSC game. The last time the Lions defeated an LSC team by more than 40 points was the 2006-07 season, when A&M-Commerce defeated two different LSC teams by 41 points.
- Chania Wright (DeSoto) led the Lions with 19 points, including 15 over a two-minute span in the third quarter. She also had four assists, two blocks and two steals.
- Princess Davis (Shreveport, La.) had 13 points and led the team with seven assists. Jocelyn Pierce (Argyle) had nine points and four rebounds.
- Agang Tac (Garland - Sachse) had six points and led the team with eight rebounds. Alexis Bryant (Pflugerville) led the team with three blocks.
- All 11 Lions that saw action scored in the game.
- The Lions shot 58 percent from the field in the game and shot 42 percent from behind the arc.

COACH BURTON AFTER THE GAME
On the win: "We challenged our team to come in today and play a complete game and play hard and do everything we could and leave it all out there for 40 minutes. We felt like we hadn't done that yet. We challenged them to win the first five minutes of the first quarter, and we did that. And that lit a fire that didn't run out today. I'm really proud of the effort today."

On having every player score: "This was a game where everybody got to play. I'm happy to see a stat sheet where everybody scores and everybody shares the ball. Twenty four assists is right up there as far as the most assists I've had as a head coach. To have 24 assists in a game, we played so unselfishly today. That was fun. It didn't matter who scored the ball. We just took the best shot on the floor and the ball went in at a high clip for us."

On the players being excited for each other: "Our bench was the best it has been all year. From start to finish, they were excited. They were in the game. It felt like a different team out there today. It was fun to coach this team today because of how much they wanted each other to have success. Something finally clicked. I think they were able to see what we look like when we are clicking on all cylinders. We can carry it into our next game."

On shooting the ball at a high level: "We haven't had too many games like today where we shot 58 percent. It happened because of how we were playing. It started on the defensive end. I looked at the stats at halftime and although we shot the ball well, we held them to 14 points. It is easy to look at the margin of victory but that happened because we held them to 38 points in the game. We did a really good job on the defensive end. Our defense today was outstanding."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Javelinas got off to a quick start, scoring five of the first seven points of the game. The Lions then got back into the game, with the teams tied at seven midway through the quarter. The Lion defense turned up the heat in the second half of the first quarter, holding the Javelinas scoreless for the remainder of the period. The Lions finished the quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 15-8 at the quarter.
 
The Javelinas continued to struggle from the field to open up the second quarter as the Lion defense did not relent. The Lions pushed their lead to as many as 17 during the nine-minute scoring drought for A&M-Kingsville. The Lions pushed their lead to as many as 20 at halftime, leading 34-14 at the half.
 
Davis led the Lions in scoring at the break with six points and also had two assists. Nine different Lions got on the scoreboard in the first half. Tac had six rebounds in the first half. The Lions shot 54 percent in the first half and held the Javelinas to just 23 percent shooting.
 
The Lions continued to pour it on in the third quarter, pushing their lead to 24 points early. The Javelinas then went on a 9-2 run to cut into the Lion lead. However, the Lions finished out the quarter on an 11-3 run to push their lead to 30 points.
 
The Lions opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run to bring their lead to 39 points and the lead was brought to as many as 52 points late. The Lion reserves also shot the ball well and the Lions left with the 49-point victory.