SILVER CITY, N.M. – The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team held off a pesky Western New Mexico University squad and closed out the regular season with a 65-53 win at Drag's Court on Saturday evening.
 
With the win, the Lions complete the regular season with a record 19-9 overall and 14-6 in the Lone Star Conference, which is good for a tie for third place in the final league standings. WNMU ends its season at 10-17 overall and 6-14 in LSC action.
 
The 14 conference victories for the Lions ties the program record for league wins in a year with the 2016-17 team.
 
Based on LSC tiebreaking procedures, the Lions are the fifth seed in the LSC Tournament, which will be held Friday through Sunday at the Comerica Center in Frisco. The Lions will take on fourth-seeded Eastern New Mexico at 8:30 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinal round. The two teams split the regular season series, with each team winning on its home floor.

COACH JASON BURTON AFTER THE GAME
On getting two road wins this week: "These last two wins were big. You look at our record this year, the majority of our wins came at the Field House. To come and get two on the road, it doesn't matter who you play, it's always tough. I'm really proud of how these girls stepped up. They really played well. On top of that, we had some adversity in the game. We were shorthanded and playing at elevation. But I thought we played well, even though we were shorthanded. Maddison Glass, Mykiel Burleson and Princess Davis stepped up and played big. I think that's huge for us going into the conference tournament. Whatever hits us, we know we are going to be good. We may be feeling this same fatigue come Saturday or Sunday. It is good for us to persevere today."
 
On the play of Bryant down the stretch: "Alexis Bryant came through with a huge second half. She was finishing through traffic. If she missed a shot, she got the rebound. She was getting defensive rebounds and was rotating. She really stepped up and had a huge second half for us."
 
Looking ahead to next week: "It's the last game of the night. We need our fans to get there. It needs to be a home-court advantage for the Lions this week. If you are not doing anything, or if you are doing something, get work off and drive down to Frisco Friday night. We need it to be loud for the Lions."
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Alexis Bryant (Pflugerville) notched a double-double to close out the regular season, scoring 14 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, including six on the offensive end of the floor.
- She led four Lions in double figure scoring. Maddison Glass (Missouri City - Hightower) and Princess Davis (Shreveport, La.) each scored 11 points. Glass added four rebounds, four assists, and three steals, while Davis had five rebounds and three assists.
- Chania Wright (DeSoto) scored 10 points and had three steals.
- The Lions shot 35.9 percent (23-of-64) from the floor and limited WNMU to 32.1 percent (18-of-56).
- A&M-Commerce forced the Mustangs to turn the ball over 20 times in the game. The Lions also held a 44-37 rebounding advantage.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Western started the game off hot on its home floor, jumping out to a 5-0 lead on the opening two possessions of the contest. The Lions chipped their way back into things, tying the game at 8-all with three and a half minutes left in the first quarter. Layups by Delyssa Miller (Arlington) and Davis to close out the first quarter put the Lions up 15-11 after the opening period, and A&M-Commerce would never relinquish the lead.
 
A&M-Commerce scored the first seven points of the second quarter, holding the Mustangs off the board for nearly three minutes to start the period. A Davis layup at the 7:22 mark of the period capped a 12-0 run that spanned the quarter break and gave the Lions a 22-11 lead. WNMU scored seven straight points to close the gap to four points, but could get no closer in the waning stages of the second quarter. The Lions took a 31-26 lead into the halftime break.
 
Coming out of the break, the Lions once again roared quickly to a bigger lead, going on an 8-2 surge to go back up by double digits at 39-28 on a Davis fastbreak layup just over three minutes into the half. The Mustangs refused to go away, and would narrow the deficit all the way down to two points at 41-39 with an 11-2 run before the Lions stopped the push. A&M-Commerce closed out the quarter on an 8-3 rally, taking a 49-42 lead into the final period.
 
Bryant put in a second-chance layup on the fourth quarter's opening possession to put the Lions up nine, and Western responded with two straight buckets to cut that lead quickly down to five points. The lead held at five until Wright canned a three-pointer and Bryant hit a pair of free throws to put the Lions up 60-50 with just over five minutes remaining. The lead would briefly dip back into single digits, but the Lions were able to convert on free throws down the stretch to earn the 12-point win to finish off the regular season.