COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team fell 71-60 to No. 17 West Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon. After three tight quarters, the Lions went cold in the final quarter.
 
The loss drops the Lions to 17-9 on the season and 12-6 in the Lone Star Conference. The Lady Buffs improve to 23-3 and 15-3 in conference play.
 
The Lions return to action in the final week of the regular season on Thursday against UT Permian Basin. The game will be played at 5:15 p.m. at UTPB Gymnasium in Odessa.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- In her final home game of her career, senior Princess Davis (Shreveport, La.) tied her season-high with 21 points.
- Senior Ekaterina Zhibareva (Liske, Russia) scored four and had two assists and two blocks.
- Chania Wright (DeSoto) had 16 points and four rebounds.
- Alexis Bryant (Pflugerville) added eight points. Agang Tac (Garland - Sachse) led the team with six rebounds.
- The Lions shot 54 percent in the first half but ended the game with a 38 percent field goal percentage.
- The Lions caused 20 turnovers while only giving up 10. WT had 27 second-chance points.
 
HEAD COACH JASON BURTON AFTER THE GAME
On the senior's playing their final home game: "Today it isn't as hard because we've got a lot of basketball left. We've got two on the road next week, and hopefully a long stay in Frisco next week. That's the fun thing, we've still got a lot of basketball left. It was good to see all of Shreveport come out and support Princess, and good to see Kate's teammates pick her up. Princess picked up right where she left off on Thursday and she was very impressive."
On today's performance: "One thing we talk about is championship level teams take care of the basketball. I thought we really took care of the basketball today. We forced 20 turnovers. We played a good game. We've got to do a better job on the boards. We played some good defense and then gave up the offensive rebound. I thought we played at a high level. Our spirits are still high."
 Looking ahead: "We will regroup. Our spirits are still high. I think they know come Frisco, it's anyone's game. We'll be a confident team coming in."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions struck first on a three-point play from Wright. The Lions scored the first five points of the game. WT answered back and midway through the quarter, the game was tied at seven. The teams traded buckets three times before a late Lion bucket sent A&M-Commerce into the second quarter with a 15-13 lead.
 
The Lions pushed their lead to four early in the second quarter before WT went on a run to take a one-point lead, which they held at the midway mark of the quarter. WT then started to pull ahead as shots continued to fall. The Lions trailed 38-33 at halftime.
 
Davis had 14 points at the half to lead the Lions while Wright had eight. The Lions shot 54 percent in the first half but WT shot 63 percent.
 
The teams went back and forth to begin the third before WT went on a run to push their lead to nine. Midway through the quarter, WT held a seven-point lead. The Lions went on a run, with Wright making consecutive threes, to cut the WT lead to just one point. Heading into the fourth, the Lions trailed 50-49.
 
WT made the first two buckets of the final quarter. The Lions struggled from the field in the final quarter, making two shots and being held without a field goal for the final six minutes of the game. WT made its free throws to secure the win.