COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team fell behind Tarleton State University after a big run early in the fourth quarter and the Lions were unable to come back in a 68-53 loss at Wisdom Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
 
The Lions fall to 16-9 overall and 12-5 in the Lone Star Conference. The TexAnns move to 17-8 overall and 11-6 in LSC action.
 
A&M-Commerce returns to the Field House on Thursday for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Play4Kay Night against Texas Woman's. The night will also be "Daddy-Daughter Date Night." For more information and tickets to the game, contact the Lion Sales and Service Box Office at (903) 468-8756.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Artaejah Gay scored 14 points and was the only Lion in double figures scoring. She also grabbed a team-best eight rebounds. Princess Davis scored nine points.
- The Lions shot 38.9 percent (21-of-54) in the contest, but made only 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) of their three-point attempts.
- Tarleton shot 50.0 percent (27-of-54) for the game, including 62.5 percent (15-of-24) in the second half and 75.0 percent (9-of-12) in the fourth quarter.
- The teams combined for 54 turnovers in the game, with the TexAnns conceding the ball 29 times and the Lions turning the ball over 25 times.
- Tarleton had a 39-27 rebounding advantage.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions struck first with two early transition buckets by Melanie Ransom and another basket from Gay gave the Lions a 6-2 lead after just two minutes of play. TSU then heated up, scoring 13 points in a row to take a large lead. Turnovers plagued the Lions in the first half and the TexAnns capitalized, pushing their lead to 24-12 at the end of the first quarter.
 
A three from Alex Nance to start the second quarter brought the Tarleton lead back down to single digits. Davis also got to the free throw line early in quarter and the Lions cut the TexAnn lead down to just five points midway through the quarter.
 
A 6-0 run by the Lions brought them to within one point with three minutes left in the quarter. Both teams then went cold, with TSU scoring three more points and taking a 30-26 lead into halftime.
 
Davis led the Lions with seven points in the first half. Gay added six points in the first half. The Lions had 13 turnovers in the first quarter but only had two in the second quarter. Both teams had 15 giveaways in the half but TSU had an 18-7 advantage in points off of turnovers.
 
Tarleton pushed the lead back up to seven points with a triple on the first possession of the second half, and the TexAnns were able to get out to a nine-point advantage in the first two minutes of the frame before the Lions mounted a strong comeback. London Holland, Jocelyn Pierce, and Gay made baskets on consecutive trips down the floor as A&M-Commerce kept the hosts off of the scoreboard for nearly five minutes of action.
 
A 6-2 Lion run capped by a Davis layup at the 1:37 mark tied the game back up at 42-42. The TexAnns nailed a long range three-pointer late in the clock to give TSU a 45-42 lead with 10 minutes of action left.
 
The TexAnns scored the opening five points of the fourth quarter in the opening minute to establish an eight-point lead. A Tiara Tatum three-pointer from the corner put the Lions down by double digits again with eight minutes remaining. The Lions missed six straight shots in the TexAnn run.
 
That run by TSU rolled over into the fourth quarter, as the Lions were only able to connect on one field goal in the opening five minutes of the period. Tarleton outscored the Lions 22-3 in a five minute span, to suddenly surge to a 64-45 lead. The Lions scored five straight points and Courtney Fields made a late triple, but the Lions were unable to mount a significant comeback.