FRISCO - A third quarter surge pushed the third-seeded Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team to an 80-65 victory over sixth-seeded Cameron University in the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament at the Comerica Center on Friday afternoon.
 
The Lions (25-3 overall) move on to the semifinal round of the tournament, where they will face the winner of Texas Woman's and UT Tyler at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster and at LoneStarConference.org. Cameron ends its tournament with a 17-11 record.
 
Six players scored in double figures for the Lions, including all five starters. LSC Player of the Year Dyani Robinson (Cy Creek) led the Lions with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, a rebound, and a steal. Asiyha Smith (Conway, Ark.) scored 15 points and dished out three assists.
 
Both DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) and Juliana Louis (Long Beach, Calif.) had 12 point double-doubles, with Kernal grabbing 16 boards and Louis grabbing 14 boards.
 
Chania Wright (DeSoto) scored 12 points and LSC Sixth Woman of the Year Laila Lawrence (Lewsiville) scored 11 points off the bench.
 
The Lions shot 38.4 percent (28-of-73) from the floor and made 22-of-28 (78.6 percent) free throws. Cameron was limited to 36.6 percent (26-of-71) from the floor and only 3-of-4 free throws.
 
A&M-Commerce held a stunning plus-23 rebounding margin, with 59 rebounds to Cameron's 36. The Lions had 24 offensive boards in the game and committed only nine fouls. This resulted in a 46-24 edge in points in the paint and a 20-0 margin on second-chance points.

HEAD COACH JASON BURTON POSTGAME QUOTES
On hot start: We did get to the hot start, but had 17 turnovers in the game, which are way more than we should have. It is a game of runs, just because we got off to the hot start, we still have to keep playing hard all game. 
On experienced roster: Juliana Louis and Chania Wright do a great job of leading by example and it transpires to the rest of the team. When they're calm and poised, that is when our team is at its best. This is the most experienced and deepest team we have had. We have players like Laila Lawrence and Olivia Russell that can be starters on many other Division II teams, so that is what makes this team special. 
On focus of the team: Right now, our job is to prepare for the next game. It is hard to enjoy one game when we have to win three games. Our team expects and wants to win, until that job is done, we'll be business minded. 
On evenly-spread playing time: On a weekend like this, we need to have legs on Sunday. We trust our players and they trust each other, so we just have to keep working.

SOPHOMORE FORWARD DESIRAY KERNAL
On sending out the seniors the right way: This is their last year, so we don't want to disappoint them. We want to give them what we deserved the past three years, it is just a matter of winning it all. 

Louis shot 2 for 2 to start the game, Kernal added a pair of free throws, and Wright knocked down a transition layup to give the Lions an 8-0 lead and forced Cameron to use its first timeout. 

Through the first 4:27 of the game, the Aggies shot 0 for 8 and trailed 10-0. Cameron tied the game at 13 with an 13-3 run over five minutes and 54 seconds. The Lions shot 1 for 7 during the stretch. Four free throws in the final 45 seconds of the quarter gave the Lions a 17-13 lead after the first quarter. 

Cameron's Stephanie Peterson gave the Aggies their first lead of the game at the 4:48 mark with a three pointer that made it 27-24. The Lions shot 3 for 9 to start the second quarter. Louis knocked in a layup just before the buzzer to build a 38-34 Lion lead at halftime. 

Dyani Robinson scored 11 points in the first half, while Louis had team-leading five rebounds. Wright tallied eight points in the first half. 

The Lions shot 6 for 7 to start the third quarter and made both their free throws to build a lead as big as 14 points. The Aggies had a scoring drought of 3:19 in the third quarter, allowing the Lions to lead 62-47. 

Cameron was held to just one made free throw in the final four minutes and 23 second of third quarter. Lions began the fourth quarter leading 62-48. In the third quarter, the Lions started the quarter making seven of their first nine, but ended the quarter making just one of their last 11 shots.

Smith had seven points in the fourth quarter as the Lions led by as much as 22 points in the fourth quarter. The Lions have won nine of the last 12 meetings. 

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Lion Athletics Mission:  Committed to a "Best in Class" experience for all.