CANYON – In a game which exhibited both teams' fast-paced styles to the fullest, the third-seeded Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team came out on the wrong end of a 97-79 scoreline Saturday, falling to second-seeded Southwestern Oklahoma State University in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Semifinal.
 
The Lions see their season end with a final record of 14-4, while the 18-3 Bulldogs advance to Monday's regional final against undefeated Lubbock Christian. The Lions were in the NCAA Division II Tournament for the third straight season, and Friday's regional quarterfinal win over Southern Nazarene was the first national tournament win from A&M-Commerce since 2007.
 
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE (Jason Burton, Keekee Nowlin, Dyani Robinson)
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The fast-paced game saw the teams combine for 159 field goal attempts. The Lions shot 40.5 percent (30-of-74) from the field, while the Bulldogs shot 40-of-85 (47.1 percent) from the field.
- Dyani Robinson (Cy-Creek) led all scorers with 25 points.
- Two Lions recorded double-doubles, with DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, and Juliana Louis (Long Beach, Calif.) scoring 10 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. She also passed out a team-high four assists.
- SWOSU turned the Lions over 26 times and converted that into 30 points. Conversely, the Lions could only turn the Bulldogs' 15 turnovers into six points.
- The Lions had a 49-45 rebounding advantage.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Southwestern was the top dog in the first quarter, with an incredibly hot shooting frame. The Lions were held to five points in the first 4:37 until Asiyha Smith (Conway, Ark.) converted a three-point play to cut the SWOSU lead to 15-8. Even with a 50 percent field goal rate in the first quarter, the Lions trailed 29-18 after 10 minutes as Southwestern shot 63.2 percent from the floor.
 
That script flipped in the second quarter, thanks to early three-point plays from Robinson and Keekee Nowlin (Bryan) and a great stretch in the final stages. The Lions had seven-point run to get the lead down to six points at 37-31 with 5:28 left in the half. With just under three minutes left before halftime, Louis started a 9-0 Lion volley which included a three-point play from Faith Bland (St. Louis, Mo.). A Robinson jumper with a minute to play gave the Lions a 45-43 lead, but SWOSU scored four points in the final seconds of the period. The Bulldogs led 47-45 at the intermission.
 
The third quarter saw SWOSU outscore A&M-Commerce by 10 points, as the Lions were unable to find their shooting stroke at only 27.8 percent (5-of-18) in the period. Even with those struggles, the Lions were only behind by seven until Bethany Franks scored five straight for Southwestern. The Bulldog lead stood at 70-58 with 10 minutes to play.
 
A&M-Commerce started the fourth quarter with a Robinson triple, which started an 11-5 run. That rally cut the lead to 75-69 with 7:23 to play. Kernal converted a three-point play with 4:35 to go, but the Lions were only able to make two more baskets from that point. The 2-of-10 shooting run to end the game, while the Bulldogs made five field goals and three free throws, sealed the win for the higher seed.