CEDAR CITY, Utah – The Southern Utah Thunderbirds downed the Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team on Thursday afternoon via a score of 71-56 at the America First Event Center.
 
The Lions drop to 1-5 on the season, having lost five in a row, while Southern Utah improves to 3-4 on the season, snapping a four-game losing skid.
 
Southern Utah jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first 2:33 of the game, forcing the Lions to use an early timeout. The Lions recovered with an 18-9 run to close out the first quarter and trailed 23-18 at the end of the first quarter.
 
Dyani Robinson (Langham Creek) knocked in a layup at the 8:04 mark of the second quarter to pull the Lions within 23-20, but the Thunderbirds had a 10-4 run to go back up by nine. The Lions trailed 35-26 at the half.
 
The Thunderbirds outscored the Lions, 23-13 in the third quarter to lead by as much as 23 points. The Lions did come to within 13 points on a 12-3 run, but the Thunderbirds did not let the Lions cut into the lead further.
 
Robinson finished the game with 23 points for A&M-Commerce, no other Lion scored in double digits. DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) scored eight points off the bench, making four of her six free-throw attempts.
 
Symmone James (McKinney – Boyd) returned to the starting lineup and grabbed eight rebounds as well as three blocks, while Laila Lawrence (Lewisville) had six points and six rebounds off the bench. Mia Deck (Frisco – Lone Star) recorded four steals. Jada Hood (Rooseville, Minn.) scored six points off the bench as well, making two three-pointers.
 
Samantha Johnston had 19 points for the Thunderbirds, while Lizzy Williamson had a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds as well as four shots blocked.

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The Lions make the short trip to Utah Tech to face the Trailblazers on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. mountain standard time before returning home.