A&M-Commerce drops tenth straight

The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team lost its 10th straight game on Saturday, falling to Texas Woman's University 90-80. The loss takes A&M-Commerce to a 4-20 record overall this season and a 1-11 record in the Lone Star Conference North Division.
 

After initially falling behind early, the Lions clawed their way back and even took the lead five minutes in. A 10-0 run midway through the first half put the Pioneers in a commanding position, due in part to a fantastic performance by junior Kayla Weaver. She was a big offensive force from start to finish, and ended the game with a double-double, a game high 35 points and 10 rebounds. Weaver was 13-17 from the floor.
 

An 8-1 run later in the first half brought the Lions back within reach, as the two teams traded momentum. TWU took a 38-35 lead into halftime.
 

A&M-Commerce Head Coach Nicole Anderson has talked before about her team's difficulty in playing two solid halves of basketball, but the same cannot be said for this game. After the half, both teams came out trading buckets and the Lions took the lead multiple times in the middle of the second frame.
 

Junior Mattilyn McIntyre had a superb second half, scoring 17 points and finishing with a team high 22 points in the game game. Senior Ashley Murphy finished in double figures for the fourth game in a row with 17 points.
 

The Pioneers also had a player with a solid second half in sophomore Jessica Hanna. She was a big part of a 12-2 run later in the half, which turned out to be crucial for TWU. Hanna finished the game with 12 points. TWU is now 12-11 overall and 6-5 in the LSC North.

"Balance wise, I think we played more of a game today," Anderson said. "It's just a matter of executing some things down the stretch and having an opportunity to score. In the first half we had six stops in a row, but we only capitalized on three of them. That's at least six points we would've had, and now we're in the ball game where we're not down at the half but we're up by three, four, five at the half."

Junior Genevieve Campbell also thought the team's effort was much better this time around. Campbell finished the game with 15 points.
 

"We played with more intensity in both halves," she said. "It sucks to lose, but as long as you can look yourself in the mirror and know you played hard, it's good."

The Lions were also affected by the amount of fouls called during the game. The final foul count for the Lions was 29, while TWU had 22. A&M-Commerce sophomore Sarah Duran, who finished the game with 11 points, fouled out midway through the second half, while Murphy and Campbell played a good portion of the second half with four fouls.

"Being in foul trouble doesn't make anything good for us, and with only 8 kids and four of them have four fouls, now you have to pick and scramble," Anderson said. "We play a very aggressive style of defense, which is very uncommon in our conference. When that happens, I think it becomes a surprise to people who are watching and even calling the games. We have to be better at moving our feet instead of using our hands so much."

Both the men and women play their last regular season games on Saturday, away to Cameron University.