COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team will host two Lone Star Conference games this week. The Lions host Western New Mexico on Thursday and UT Permian Basin on Saturday.
 
Western New Mexico – Youth Sports Night
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (10-6, 5-3 LSC) vs. Western New Mexico (6-9, 2-6 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 24 at 5:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: lionathletics.com/live
LIVE AUDIO: ketr.org
TICKETS: Click HERE
 
UT Permian Basin – Alumni Day
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce vs. UT Permian Basin (3-13, 0-8 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: lionathletics.com/live
LIVE AUDIO: ketr.org
TICKETS: Click HERE
 
The Lions are coming off of a winless weekend, their first of the season as they fell to West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico. The Lions fell behind in both games early and could not find ways to recover.
 
"We couldn't make shots last week," said A&M-Commerce head coach Jason Burton. "Both games we kind of came out flat and dug ourselves a hole. And at the end, we couldn't overcome that hole that we dug early on. I thought that our second half of both games, we came out and played well. But we have to make shots. We did a good job of going and crashing the offensive glass. We had 23 offensive rebounds against Eastern New Mexico, we had our lowest turnover performance of the year. We forced 19 turnovers and had 30 more shots than they shot. But the ball wouldn't fall. But a lot of credit to Eastern and West Texas. Those are two very good teams. I thought we went out and competed, but fell short."
 
The Lions had surges in both fourth quarters, cutting 20+ point deficits to single digits late. Burton liked the way his team continued to compete, even though both games did not end in their favor.
 
"The thing we know about this team is we play hard, from start to finish," he said. "And that always keeps us in the game. We've learned by now that we have to come out in the game and play well from the get go. Whenever we've come out of the first quarter leading, we've won the game. Our goal moving forward is to win the first quarter. If we do that, that puts us in a position to win games."
 
The Lions now prepare to host the last two teams they have yet to face in their conference season. After this week, the Lions will have faced every team in the Lone Star Conference. Burton is excited to see how his team has played and knows they have a chance if they continue to compete and play the way he knows they can.
 
"After this week, we've seen everybody," Burton said. "We are confident in the fact that we can beat anybody. But there is no game that is going to be easy. Even the teams that are toward the bottom of the conference right now are good teams. The conference is wide open. Our team knows what we have to do to win and we have to make sure we do that on a daily basis. We can't take a game off."
 
With Saturday being Alumni weekend, Burton also reflected on the former players and coaches he coached and competed with. He had a special message to all A&M-Commerce alumni.
 
"We want to invite all Alumni to come back," he said. "Anyone that is in the area and can make it out, please come back. Please come support. We would love to have you here. We want you to come talk to our men and women. We need as many alumni as we can and as many fans as we can to come. Both teams have to win our home games. We need to pack the Field House."