TYLER – The No. 10 Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team started cold, then used a dominant defensive effort to put up a 71-38 win over the University of Texas at Tyler at the Herrington Patriot Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the rout, the Lions move to 9-0 overall and 3-0 in the Lone Star Conference, while UT Tyler falls to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in LSC action. The Lions have now achieved the most consecutive wins under head coach Jason Burton in his six-year tenure. The 38 points conceded ties the program record for fewest points allowed in a conference game.
 
A&M-Commerce returns to the floor on Thursday at Texas Woman's with a 7 p.m. tipoff. The game will be played at Kitty MaGee Arena in Denton.
 
HEAD COACH JASON BURTON AFTER THE GAME
On the game: "In the first half, it looked like we were just going through the motions. Then the second half, the number 10 team in the country showed up and we played the way we are capable of playing. When we do that, this team is very successful. We are having fun, the team is cheering for each other, and that's what makes it fun. We are doing it together."
On the depth of the team: "Everybody is averaging 10 minutes a game, which is great. That experience will pay dividends at the end of the season. When you have everyone be able to get game time and conference experience, you will be ready. We have been able to play a lot of people. And our press has been able to wear people out."
Getting 15 steals: "The majority of our takeaways came in the second half today. This is a team that gets better defensively as the game goes on. They are buying into the scouting reports and are executing game plans. When you can do that, it leads to easier points on the other end. We talk about it, let our defense create offense for us. We did a good job of doing that in the second half."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Mykiel Burleson (Pflugerville) led all scorers with 19 points, including tying a career-high with five three-pointers.
- Chania Wright (DeSoto) scored 16 points and Alexis Bryant (Pflugerville) scored 12 points.
- Agang Tac (Sachse) grabbed nine rebounds, and Bryant and Juliana Louis (Long Beach, Calif.) each snagged seven boards. Maddison Glass (Missouri City - Hightower) passed out seven assists.
- The Lions forced 29 Patriot turnovers, with 15 of those coming on Lion steals.
- A&M-Commerce shot 40 percent (28-of-70) from the field and limited UT Tyler to 27.5 percent (11-of-40).
- The game marks the Lions' ninth win in a row, the most consecutive wins in the Jason Burton era.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Neither team started the game with offensive rhythm, as nearly two minutes elapsed before the first points were scored. The Lions didn't make a field goal until the 5:31 mark of the first quarter, when Burleson drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 5-all. She also gave the Lions a 9-8 lead with a layup a few seconds later. A&M-Commerce went on an eight-point run towards the end of the period with a Wright scoring five of those points. Her three-pointer with just over a minute to go gave the Lions a 17-10 advantage and TAMUC took a 17-12 lead into the second quarter.
 
The Lions' cold shooting carried over into the second quarter as they made only 5-of-13 field goals, 1-of-7 three pointers, and none of their three free throws. Dyani Robinson (Cypress - Langham Creek) was the only Lion with multiple baskets in the frame, including the three-pointer. A nine-point run gave the Lions a 28-16 lead on a DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) basket with just over three minutes left, but the Patriots were able to narrow the margin down to 28-22 at the break.
 
Out of the halftime break, the Lion defense turned up the pressure and turned that into points. UT Tyler was held scoreless for the first five-and-a-half minutes as the Lions opened on a 10-0 run, with Bryant scoring six of those points. While the Patriot basket briefly broke the string, the Lions scored 10 of the quarter's final 11 points. Burleson's three-pointer just before the horn gave A&M-Commerce a 48-26 lead with 10 minutes to play, as TAMUC outscored its hosts 20-4 in the quarter. UT Tyler attempted only four shots in the 10-minute period.
 
Both teams scored five points in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Lions immediately snuffed out any opportunity for a Patriot comeback with an eight-point run. Wright scored six of those points with a three-pointer and a three-point play to make it 61-31 with under seven minutes to go. The Lions held UT Tyler without a field goal in the final six minutes and cruised to another win.