COMMERCE – Trailing for over 35 minutes in Tuesday night's game, the No. 1/4 ranked Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball nearly climbed back from a 14-point halftime deficit, but fell a shot short against the Texas Woman's Pioneers, who won 57-54, in the Field House.
 
The game was tied at 52 two minutes left and the Lions took a two-point lead, but the Pioneers scored the next four points to lead 56-54 in the final minute. The Lions had three chances to tie the game and all three came up short.
 
After two straight misses at the free throw line with 45 seconds left, the Lions forced a turnover to get the ball back and missed a layup with eight seconds left, but still had a chance to send the game to overtime. The game-tying three pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
 
The loss snaps a nine-game winning streak for the Lions and drops them to 22-3 on the season and 10-3 in the Lone Star Conference. Entering the final weekend of the regular season, the Lions are in fourth place and have a one-game separation to avoid a first round game in the LSC Tournament. The Pioneers improve to 11-3 in conference play and sit in a three-way tie atop the standings. They are 18-7 overall.
 
The Lions missed 9 of their first 11 shots, while the Pioneers made 7 for their first 7 shots to lead 16-5 over the first 6:11. Texas Woman's had a 22-15 lead after the first quarter, shooting 58.8 percent in the quarter.
 
Texas Woman's started the game shooting 9 for 12, but missed 10 of its next 16. The Lions shot below 30 percent throughout the first half. Dyani Robinson (Langham Creek) scored nine of the Lions' 22 points in the first half.
 
The Lions went on a 7-2 run to start the third quarter and cut the deficit to single digits with a layup from DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.). Texas Woman's had a lead as big as 13 points in the third quarter, but the Lions chopped it down to eight, 47-39, at the end of the third quarter.
 
Symmone James (McKinney – Boyd) scored the last two points of the third quarter and first two of the fourth quarter. The Lions went on a 11-0 run and took their first lead of the game at the 5:52 mark of the fourth quarter on a three pointer by Chania Wright (DeSoto).
 
Neither team was able to build a lead bigger than two points from that point until a free throw by the Pioneers on their last possession of the game gave them a three-point lead.
 
Kernal scored 10 points in the second half, shooting 5 for 8 and grabbed six rebounds as well. She finished the game with 14 points, 10 rebounds, two steals, and a block. Juliana Louis (Long Beach, Calif.) had season-high 15 rebounds, one shy of her career-high. She also led the team with four assists, and totaled four points, two blocks, and a steal.
 
Robinson tallied 16 points, two rebounds, one assist, and a steal. Wright finished the game with nine points and a rebound. Asiyha Smith (Conway, Ark.) tallied three blocks and three assists.
 
Off the bench, James shot 3 for 3 from the field and 2 for 2 at the free throw line for eight points and grabbed five rebounds as well as two blocks. Laila Lawrence (Lewisville) totaled three points and four rebounds. Mia Deck (Frisco – Lone Star) had two points as well.
 
After scoring 36 points in the first half, the Pioneers were held to 21 in the second half. Texas Woman's restricted the Lions to score seven points in the second quarter.


POSTGAME INTERVIEW
 
UP NEXT
The Lions head on the road to close out the regular season at Angelo State on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and at UT Permian Basin on Saturday at 2 p.m.