LAKE CHARLES, La. – Behind season-best 29 points from Dyani Robinson, the Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team collected its first road win as a Division I program by beating the McNeese Cowgirls 79-71 on Saturday afternoon at the Legacy Center.
 
The Lions move to 3-0 in Southland Conference play, leading the conference after the first two weekends of the season and improve to 5-10 overall. The Cowgirls fall to 4-10 overall and 1-2 in Southland play. Coming into the game, the Lions were 0-9 in games away from Commerce and 0-7 in true road games this season.
 
Robinson (Langham Creek) scored a three-pointer to start the game, but the Cowgirls scored the next nine points to lead 9-3. The Lions did pull to 12-11, but following a called timeout by McNeese, the Cowgirls scored the next five and went up by as much as seven in the first quarter.
 
The Lions scored the final three points of the first quarter and then scored the first four in the second quarter to tie the game at 21. A layup by Robinson at the 8:17 mark of the second quarter gave the Lions a 25-23 lead, their first since 3-0 to start the game. McNeese closed out the first half on a 11-2 run to lead 45-37 at the half.
 
Robinson scored 17 points in the first 20 minutes on 7 for 11 shooting and made three of her four three-point attempts. Laila Lawrence (Lewisville) scored nine. For McNeese, Kaili Chamberlain scored 13 and Desirae Hansen scored 12.
 
The Lions came out to start the second half on a 9-0 run to take a 46-45 lead on an and-one by Lawrence. There were five lead changes through the first six minutes of the third quarter after just five in the first half.
 
A&M-Commerce outscored the Cowgirls 23-6 to start the second half and led 61-51 with 1:40 remaining in the third quarter, which was the largest lead for either team in the game. DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) scored eight points in the third quarter.
 
After the Lions went up by 10, McNeese scored nine of the next 10 to cut the Lion lead down to two, but A&M-Commerce scored six of the next eight to go up by six once again. The Cowgirls went on a 5-0 run late to cut to within six, but the Lions made just enough free throws to not let the lead go below five and collected their first road win of the season.
 
In the game, the Lions forced 23 turnovers and scored 28 off those turnovers, while scoring 14 second chance points off 14 offensive rebounds and had a 11-4 edge in fastbreak points.
 
Robinson shot 10 for 19 in the game for her 29 points, which are the most for the Lions since she scored 29 against Midwestern State on February 2, 2021, while also adding three rebounds, five steals, and three assists. Lawrence recorded her first 20-point performance of the season and missed a double-double by just one rebound. She also had a steal and a block in the game.  
 
Kernal picked up her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She also had two assists, two steals, and a block in the game. Jordyn Beaty (Woodville), Zaria Collins (Plano), and Olivia Russell (Auburn Hills, Mich.) scored four points each. Dorian Norris (Lake Dallas) grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists.
 
The Cowgirls' Hansen had 12 points in the first half, but was held to just six in the second, but still led McNeese with 18 points. The Cowgirls outshot the Lions, 51.8 to 43.3 percent in the game.


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The Lions remain on the road, traveling to Houston Christian, the defending Southland champions, on Thursday at 5 p.m.