DENTON – The No. 10 Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team repeated its script from the first matchup of the year against Texas Woman's University, as the Lions opened up a massive lead and cruised to a 67-49 win Saturday.
 
The Lions are now 10-1 overall and 10-0 in Lone Star Conference play, while the Pioneers are now 3-6 overall and 3-5 in the league.
 
A&M-Commerce is next in action on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at home against Cameron in a rescheduled game which will complete the season series with the Aggies.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) led all scorers with 19 points, adding three rebounds and two steals. She went 10-of-12 from the free throw line in the contest.
- Dyani Robinson (Cypress – Langham Creek) scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds. Asiyha Smith (Conway, Ark.) netted 11 points and snagged eight rebounds off the bench.
- Keekee Nowlin (Bryan) had six rebounds and four assists.
- The Lions shot 37.9 percent (22-of-58) from the field and 73.1 percent (19-of-26) at the charity stripe.
- A&M-Commerce held a 48-32 rebounding advantage.
- Chania Wright (DeSoto) hit her 129^th career three-pointer to move into sole possession of fourth place in program history in made three-pointers
 
HEAD COACH JASON BURTON AFTER THE GAME
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the second consecutive game against TWU, the Lions jumped out to a huge lead while limiting the Pioneers' scoring in the first quarter. The Pioneers missed their first nine shots of the game and went 2-of-16 from the floor in the frame. At the same time, the Lions made four of their first five shots and scored the final 11 points of the quarter, leading 23-4 after the first 10 minutes of action. TWU scored four points in the first quarter of each game in the series this week.
 
Robinson and Kernal made consecutive baskets to open the second quarter, pushing the lead to 23 points at 27-4. The Pioneers were able to get on the board and slow down the Lions' scoring slightly, but Kernal's late three-pointer allowed A&M-Commerce to take a 40-17 lead into the dressing room at halftime. The Lions shot 50 percent (15-of-30) from the field in the half, while TWU went 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) in the first 20 minutes.
 
In the third quarter, the Lions took advantage of free throws to extend the lead over 30 points. A13-2 A&M-Commerce rally included seven Kernal free throws, and a Dorian Norris (Lake Dallas) layup at the 4:28 mark gave the Lions their largest lead of the game at 53-21. Smith made a three-pointer at the buzzer to put the Lion lead at 57-29 headed to the fourth quarter.
 
With the large lead, the A&M-Commerce pace was slightly relaxed in the final quarter, allowing TWU to slightly narrow the final margin. The Lion highlight of the frame was the Wright three-pointer to move her up the career listings.