DENTON – The No. 8 Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team picked up a 76-46 win over Texas Woman's on Thursday. The Lions played suffocating defense throughout, causing 34 turnovers in the game.
 
The win brings the Lions to 10-0 on the season and 4-0 in the Lone Star Conference. The Pioneers fall to 3-5 and 1-3 in conference play.
 
The Lions return to action in their final game of the 2019 calendar year as they face Tarleton. The game will be played at  2 p.m. at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville. The game will be followed by the Lion men against Tarleton.
 
HEAD COACH JASON BURTON AFTER THE GAME
- On overcoming a slow offensive start: "On the road, sometimes it's tough to score. And things aren't going to always go your way. Our defense has been carrying us all season. We've been able to guard at a high level. They came out hot and scored 11 points in the first five minutes of the game. And the rest of the half, we held them to 12 points. That level of defense is going to allow us to succeed even if there are times we don't shoot the ball well. proud of how we bounced back."
On the strong play from the bench: "Our bench really stepped up. We are a deep team. We had several people in foul trouble in the first half and everybody that came into the game contributed. I thought Jocelyn Pierce and KeeKee Nowlin had great first halves for us. That was a spark for us and allowed us to play through some foul trouble."
On the play of Chania Wright: "Chania Wright played the best defense I've ever seen her play in this game. And that sparked her to score 21 points, which is her season high. It didn't come from the usual places either. She usually is hitting threes. It came from layups and from free throws. She was getting in passing lanes and running the floor. She finished at the basket as well. I'm proud of how she played."
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Chania Wright (DeSoto) led the team with a season-high 21 points, 19 of which came in the second half. She also had a career-high six steals.
- Dyani Robinson (Cypress – Langham Creek) added 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
- The Lions had 22 steals in the game, the second most by the team ever against a Division II opponent. The team caused 34 TWU turnovers in the game, a season high.
- A&M-Commerce scored 37 points off of TWU's giveaways. They also scored 42 points in the paint.
- After shooting just 27 percent in the first half, the Lion shot 55 percent in the second half.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Pioneers jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first two baskets of the game. The Lions battled back with a pair of early threes to tie the game early. After the Pioneers built an 11-7 lead, the Lions held TWU without a field goal for the remainder of the quarter. The Lions took the lead late, taking a 15-14 lead into the quarter.
 
The Lion defense continued to cause turnovers to begin the second quarter, as the Lions started on a 12-2 run to open up a double-figure lead. KeeKee Nowlin (Bryan) had a pair of putback buckets as part of the run. Robinson hit a bank shot three at the buzzer to send the Lions into halftime with a 33-23 lead.
 
The Lions caused 18 turnovers in the half, while shooting only 27 percent.
 
The Lion defense continued to swarm in the second half, causing multiple turnovers that led to easy baskets. Wright found her stroke on the fast break, scoring multiple times on breakaway layups. The Lions built their lead to as many as 19 in the quarter. The Pioneers cut the Lion lead to 13 points at the end of the third quarter.
 
The Lions started the fourth quarter on an 11-0 run, with Wright again scoring multiple times on the fast break. The Lions pushed their lead to as many as 30 in the final quarter.