It took the Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions 36 years to set the new single-season win record, but on Saturday, Feb. 3, the women defeated the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs 80-60 to claim their 17th victory on the year.
The women traveled to Weatherford, Okla. last Saturday to claim the record setting win on the road.
Britney Jordan paved the way for the Lions with 19 points and 11 assists, her second consecutive double-double. Tradawn Short and Katedria Mosley each dropped in 14 points, while guard Tarika Campbell had nine and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Bulldogs were led by Jessica Bailey and Ashlea Huffman who both scored 12.
The Lions improve their record to 17-7 overall and have won 12 out of 13 games.
They also have won five consecutive Lone Star North Division Conference games after losing the first on Jan 20. Southwestern Oklahoma State falls to 8-12 and 2-4.
Scoring 38 points in the first half, theLions shot a season-high 65 percent from the field going into halftime with a sevenpoint lead 38-31.
In the second half, the Lions went on a 20-4 after the Bulldogs had cut the lead to three with 13:55 remaining in the half.
The lions totaled 42 points in the half as they seemed determined to set the new record. The Lions dominated in almost all team statistical categories; beating the Bulldogs 34-12 in points in the paint. They also went 24-9 in points off of turnovers, 13-11 in second chance points and won 23-20 in points off the bench.
LIONS DEFEAT CAMERON, RECORD TYING WIN
On Wednesday, Jan. 31, the Lions played host to Cameron University and defeated the Lady Aggies 78-61 for the record-tying 16th victory of the season. Jordan again went for 19 points and 11 assists to lead the Lions.
Senior Kanani Marshal led all scorers with 22 points, while hitting six three-pointers in the game.
Senior forward Tradawn Short had a career game going for 19 points and a team high five rebounds.
Shantel Whitaker led the Lady Aggies in scoring with 17 points, while Chelsea Turner followed with 16 and pulled down nine rebounds.
With this win and the East Central loss, the Lions moved into first place in the Lone Star North Division Conference.
The Lions, who are 5-1 in the conference, are closely followed by Southeastern Oklahoma with a 4-2 conference record and Central Oklahoma, who sits at 4-3.
In the first half, Marshal led the Lionswith 13 points, while Jordan had ten points and dished out four assists. A 10-2 run midway through the half had the Lions well on their way to victory with a 39-26 halftime lead.
An 11-2 run to open the second half extended the Lions lead to its largest of the night.
Cameron attempted a comeback, pulling the Lions to within 11, but the women held strong on their way to a 17 point victory.
As a team, the Lions shot 61.5 percent from the field and forced the Lady Aggies into 21 turnovers for 31 points.
As of Feb. 5, the Lions lead the Lone Star North Division Conference in scoring with 75.1 points per game. The team also leads the conference in field goal percentage with a .456 mark. Ranking second in some categories, the women have a scoring margin of +10.1, and average 15.5 assists and 12 steals per game.
After clinching their 16 and 17 victory for the year, the women still have six games remaining to push their record even farther and have hopes of winning the Lone Star North Division Conference. Up next for the Lions is the second consecutive game from the LSC North Division with a game on Feb. 10 against Northeastern State at the Field House.
The last four games of the season has the Lions back into division games with the first and last being at home. East Central comes to town on Valentine’s Day and then the Lions will travel to Durant, Okla. to face Southeastern Oklahoma on Feb. 17.
The women will play against Cameron University again on Feb. 21 in Lawton, Okla. before coming home for the last game of the season against SWOSU.