COMMERCE – The No. 20 Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team faced a stern test in its first game as a nationally-ranked team in over 11 years, and the Lions showed their ranking was deserved, holding off No. 18 Southeastern Oklahoma State University by a 70-64 score in the Field House on Tuesday night.
 
The Lions extended their season-opening winning streak to six games and are 6-0 on the season. The Savage Storm falls to 4-1 overall with its first loss of the season.

A&M-Commerce will travel to Oklahoma this weekend, playing Northeastern State in Tahlequah at 2 p.m. Saturday.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Interior play was crucial for the Lions, who had a 39-30 overall rebounding advantage, including 15 offensive rebounds. This was important, as TAMUC shot only 38.7 percent (24-of-62) from the field. The Lions had 11 second chance points compared to only two for Southeastern.
- Maddison Glass (Missouri City - Hightower) was the Lion leader in points, scoring 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. She also had three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
- Mykiel Burleson (Pflugerville) scored 12 points off the bench, and Chania Wright (DeSoto) scored 10 points.
- Alexis Bryant (Pflugerville) had eight points and nine rebounds.
- A&M-Commerce forced the Savage Storm to turn the ball over 20 times in the game.
 
HEAD COACH JASON BURTON AFTER THE GAME
On getting the win over another nationally ranked team: "That's a really good team right there. They are the No. 18 team in the country for a reason. They didn't get rattled by anything. Even though they got down, they played hard until the very end and had confidence the whole time. They shot 60 percent in that fourth quarter. That is the best anyone has shot against us this year. They put some pressure on us at the end of the game. Luckily we were able to pull it out."
 
On the strong first quarter: "We needed that hot start. I think early on, our pressure bothered them. The sign of a good team is being able to adjust and they were able to do that. I thought it started to show that we had played three games in six days. Some of our players got a little fatigued. But at the end of the day, we found a way down the stretch and that's what you have to do."
 
On being on the road the rest of the calendar year: "We are on the road for the rest of 2019. It's not going to get any easier. The fact that we are now ranked, that adds a target. There is a number before our name now. I think that anybody that sees that, they take on the role of the underdog. You are able to play loose. I think we are going to get everybody's best shot. We have some big conference games next month with Tyler, TWU and Tarleton. It was tough to get to 6-0. We will try to get to 7-0 on Saturday. Hopefully we can repeat our formula."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the game went back and forth for the first four minutes, the Lions went on a big run to take a sizeable lead. Southeastern held a narrow 5-4 lead at the 6:17 mark, but A&M-Commerce scored the next 10 points and held the guests to five points in the rest of the period. Alexus Jones (Aledo) started the rally with a pair of free throws, followed by a three-point play by Bryant, a DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.0 three-pointer, and a Juliana Louis (Long Beach, Calif.) basket on the fastbreak. The Lion lead would advance to as many as 15 points, and Dyani Robinson (Cypress - Langham Creek) scored four points in the final minute to give A&M-Commerce a 24-10 lead after 10 minutes.
 
Agang Tac (Sachse) drained a jumper on the first possession of the second quarter to put the Lions up 16, but Southeastern hit three-pointers on its next two shots to cut the advantage to 10 points at 26-16. A bucket by Wright and a pair of baskets by Glass would extend that lead back out to 16 points. Burleson's free throws at the 4:10 mark of the quarter gave the Lions their largest lead of the night at 36-18. The Storm would narrow that margin to 11 points, but A&M-Commerce was able to take a 40-28 lead into the intermission.
 
The lead stood at 15 points off of a Burleson three-pointer with 6:18 to play in the third quarter, but Southeastern scored six straight in the next minute and a half to get the lead back a single digit at 51-42. The Lions were able to get back ahead by double figures quickly and took a 57-45 lead into the final period of action. This response was aided by three long-range shots made in the quarter.
 
A&M-Commerce hovered around a 10-point lead for most of the fourth quarter, but the Storm pressured their way back into the game. The lead was still at 65-55 with 4:18 to go on a pair of Burleson free throws, but SEOSU made its next two shots to get its deficit back to six points at 65-50 with three minutes left. The lead shrank down to five points, but Glass was able to make a trio of free throws in the last minute to preserve the Lions' sixth win in a row.