SILVER CITY, N.M. – All 15 active players for the Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team appeared in the Lions' 66-52 win over the Western New Mexico Mustangs at the Drag's Court on Thursday night.
 
After falling to UT Tyler on Tuesday night, the Lions bounce back with a win to move to 3-2 in Lone Star Conference play and 14-2 overall. The Mustangs are now 4-7 overall and 0-3 in LSC games.
 
HEAD COACH JASON BURTON AFTER THE GAME
On overall thoughts on the game: "We got back to playing like we are capable of playing. We guarded like we wanted to guard, we rotated and rebounded well, not giving up second chance shots. Their big was around the basket grabbing rebounds in the first quarter, but cleaned that up. We limited them to eight offensive rebounds, our goal was to hold them to eight rebounds or less, so that tells us. We want our identity to be one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country and we did a great job of that tonight. If we made free throws like we're capable of, we could have scored 80 or more points."
 
On DesiRay Kernal's performance: A lot of her point came on offensive rebounds. It was definitely a bounce back game for DesiRay. She did not have her best game on Tuesday, but she played she is capable of playing today.
 
On altitude: We rotated a lot of people today, just to keep everyone fresh. Everbody that touched floor, played really well and hard. Our zone offense had great ball movement and made some three pointers today. This is the best I have ever felt playing here as far as having a deep team that we feel comfortable with. Hopefully we have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament and be the hosts, but if we have to go to Colorado, then today was a good test for us. We have a formula for success in playing in the altitude if that happens.
 
On scoring in the paint: We needed to be a little bit stronger down low, that would have helped us finish some of those points. Their big, Olivia Lee, is not the easiest to score over or around and so we did a good job in what we needed to do. Some shots did not fall, we were at times shooting from outside than from inside the arc. I loved how we shot. We have our formula, we know what our identity is, we just have to make sure to stay consistent with that.
 
On lineup changes: We changed things up in the lineup. Asiyha Smith got her first career start and that allowed us to bring more defense in the first unit. Bringing Ravae Payne off the bench allowed her to have more scoring opportunities. Really proud of the effort tonight, but we have a short turnaround.
 
On Mia Deck's performance: She has been a tremendous defender for us, which was a surprise to us as we brought her in as a shooter. She has become one of our better on-ball defenders and really disrupts the other team's best players. Really proud of the way she has been playing as of late.
 
On depth in the post: This is the deepest we've ever been in the post and you add Jordyn Beaty, who rejoined the squad after Christmas. Adding her physical presence has been huge for us and she did a good job at the free throw line. It is good to see her being back in form and bringing physicality for us down low. There are more weeks that are going to be like this where there is not much time to practice between games.
 
The Lions missed their first four field goals and were held to four points in the first four minutes. A&M-Commerce held Western New Mexico without a point for the last 4:06 of the first quarter and took a 14-10 lead. Both teams shot 4 for 15 from the field in the first quarter.
 
Both teams' shooting woes continued in the second quarter. The Lions made three three pointers in the second quarter and made two of their six free throw attempts. A&M-Commerce outscored Western New Mexico 17-11 in the second quarter, despite shooting 6 for 20 in the second quarter.
 
Juliana Louis (Long Beach, Calif.) had six points and six rebounds in the first half, while Asiyha Smith (Conway, Ark.), who made her first career start, also having six rebounds in the first half. Dyani Robinson (Langham Creek) matched Louis' six points in the first half. Mia Deck (Frisco – Lone Star) totaled four points, three assists, and two steals in 11 minutes in the first half.
 
The Lions outshot the Mustangs 29 percent to 27 percent from the field in the first half. They made five three pointers, while holding the Mustangs to just one made shot from the distance.
 
After the Mustangs cut to within seven points, the smallest lead for the Lions since the midway point of the second quarter, A&M-Commerce went on a 9-2 run. The Mustangs scored the last four points of the third quarter, but trailed 48-36 entering the fourth quarter.
 
Robinson knocked down a three pointer with 3:04 left in the game to give the Lions their largest lead of the game, 65-46. She had team leading 14 points, making three three pointers, as well as five rebounds and a steal. DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) and Louis nearly missed double doubles. Kernal tallied 13 points and eight rebounds, while Louis scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
 
The Lions were held to one point in the last three minutes of the game but allowed just three points to win their third conference game of the year.
 
Smith picked up nine rebounds and scored five points. Laila Lawrence (Lewisville) also scored five points, while grabbing eight rebounds. Deck had team-leading three assists. Ravae Payne (Pearland) came off the bench for the first time this season and scored seven points as well as tallying three rebounds and two assists.
 
Both teams shot well below their season averages. The Mustangs outshot the Lions, 36 percent to 30 percent in the game. Lions grabbed season-best 57 rebounds and held the Mustangs to 32 rebounds.
 
UP NEXT
The Lions host Midwestern State on Sunday at 2 p.m. in a make-up of the game originally scheduled on New Year's Eve. Fans can receive $1 tickets for everyone in their group if they present a church bulletin at the door.