PUEBLO, Colo.– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team picked up a 69-51 win over Metro State on Friday to begin the 2019-20 season. After a close first half, the Lions caught fire down the stretch to pull away for the win.

The win brings the Lions to 1-0 on the year, and is their fifth consecutive win over MSU Denver. The Roadrunners fall to 0-1 on the year.
 
A&M-Commerce will return to action on Saturday as they face tournament host CSU-Pueblo. The game will be played at 6:30 p.m. CST at Massari Arena in Pueblo, Colo.
 
HEAD COACH JASON BURTON AFTER THE GAME
- Thoughts on the game: "It was truly a team win tonight. It took a complete effort from all 11 players that traveled to win the game. At altitude and this early in the season, we are not in the shape we want to be to play like we want to play without having the whole team contribute on the floor."
- On the unselfish team play: "Everyone played double digit minutes, 10 of 11 players scored, 10 of 11 players got assists. We played unselfishly and we played for each other. The ladies celebrated each others' wins and it is fun to win that way. Especially when you guard like we guarded in the second half. We kept a good Metro team to 20 points in the second half because the team sold out to doing what we do. It was a great team win tonight."
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions shot a blazing 53 percent from behind the arc and shot 41 percent overall in the game.
- Alexis Bryant (Pflugerville) led the team with 14 points, 11 of which came in the second half. She also had four rebounds.
- Chania Wright (DeSoto) had 11 points and two assists.
- Maddison Glass (Missouri City - Hightower) neared a double-double with nine points and seven rebounds. She also led the team with three assists. Dyani Robinson (Cypress – Langham Creek) also had nine points, hitting all three of her attempts from behind the arc.
- The Lions had 18 assists in the game, assisting on 75 percent of their field goals.
- Both teams had turnover struggles at times, as the teams combined for 33 turnovers. MSU Denver had 18 turnovers in the game.
- The Lions did not trail after the first quarter.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The lead changed hands early as both teams came out of the gate firing. Robinson hit a pair of early threes for the Lions as they jumped to a 10-6 lead at the midway mark of the quarter. Both teams hit a shooting slump but the Lions found their way to the free throw line, which led them to jump their lead to nine points. A last second three from the Roadrunners sent the Lions into the second quarter leading 20-14.
 
Both teams hit a scoring drought early in the second quarter as neither side scored for a three-minute span. The Lions then pushed their lead to 10 points as Glass made a driving layup and Louis hit a three to give A&M-Commerce a 32-22 lead with four minutes remaining. MSU Denver finished the half with a flourish, scoring nine points in a row to cut the Lion lead to just one. However, a late three from KeeKee Nowlin (Bryan) sent the Lions into halftime with a 35-31 lead.
 
10 different Lions scored in the first half, with Robinson and Wright leading the way with six points apiece. Turnovers plagued both teams as the teams combined for 19 giveaways in the first half. The Lions capitalized on Metro's miscues, scoring 10 points off of turnovers. The Lions nearly led the entire first half, leading for nearly 17 minutes.
 
After the teams traded early buckets, the Lions began to build their lead once again, going on a 6-0 run to build their lead to eight points. Tac had a pair of buckets in the paint as A&M-Commerce took a double-figure lead. The Lions caught fire from deep late as Mykiel Burleson (Pflugerville) had a pair of threes, and Robinson had another as the Lions took a 57-42 lead into the final period.
 
Neither team found the basket in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. The Lions then got on another streak, pushing their lead to as many as 20 in the quarter. The Lion defense made things tough on MSU Denver for the remainder of the game, and the Lions left with the win.