March 8, 2008

Box Score

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - Junior All-American Emily Brister narrowly missed what would have been her fourth consecutive double-double as she recorded 25 points and nine rebounds to help the South Division's top-seeded West Texas A&M women's hoops team beat Angelo State, 67-55, in the Lone Star Conference Tournament Semifinal game on Saturday afternoon.

By beating Angelo State for the third time this season, the Lady Buffs advance to the tournament championship for the third consecutive year and will face Central Oklahoma, the North's No. 1 seed, tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Bruin Field House in Bartlesville, Okla.

Brister made 6-of-13 baskets from the floor - including one from long distance - while adding a season-high 12-of-14 performance from the free throw line. The Amarillo, Texas, native also tallied team-highs in assists and blocks, with four of each.

Joining Brister in double figure scoring were junior Courtney Lee and sophomore Holly Isaacs, who each supplied 12 points; Lee sank 6-of-14 field goal attempts while Isaacs shot 4-of-8 from behind the arc to tie a career-high scoring performance.

Continuing a recent trend, the hot-shooting Isaacs started things off right for the Lady Buffs as she drained a three-pointer on an assist from Bell at the 19:05 mark. On the next possession WT forced a bad ASU pass to reclaim the ball and Brister sank a jumper in the paint as the shot clock wound down to put the Lady Buffs ahead, 5-0.

WT then took a 7-3 lead as Brister dished an assist for a Bell lay-up at 17:53, but a jumper from Angelo State's Tiffany Hardwell pulled the `Belles within two, 7-5, at 17:41. Another jumper from Brister gave the Lady Buffs a 9-5 advantage at the first media timeout with 15:40 left in the half.

ASU kept the game close until the Lady Buffs went on an 11-6 run to take a 26-16 lead as Unruh and Isaacs sank back-to-back three-pointers, Lee tallied four points and senior Jenessa McKray made two important free throws with 3:34 on the clock.

Brister made four baskets from the charity stripe during the last 2:21 of the half, and after a lay-up attempt was blocked by the `Belles' Katarzyna Kurowska with just 24 ticks on the clock, Brister blocked a last-second jumper by Kurowska at the other end of the court to send WT into halftime with a 30-22 lead.

The teams traded baskets out of gate in the second half and ASU was able to come as close as just five points behind the Lady Buffs, 34-29, on a jumper by Lindsey Leatherman, but WT's staunch defensive effort shut down the `Belles' momentum as ASU committed turnovers on back-to-back possessions.

With 13:46 left to play, junior Jamie Dreiling was whistled for a traveling violation, but she came back on the other end of the court and drew a charge from ASU's Camille Perkins to regain possession for the Lady Buffs; the native of Lake Kiowa, Texas, then dished an assist to Brister, who drained a three-pointer and put WT ahead, 45-33, with 13:09 on the clock.

The Lady Buffs continued to steadily rebuild their lead as they took a 16-point advantage, 51-35, when freshman Joni Unruh stole the ball from ASU's Tiffany Hardwell and made a fast break lay-up, then came back down the court after another `Belle turnover - this time by Alix Flores - and sank a jumper at the 10:20 mark of the half.

ASU was able to push on its offensive end of the court as the `Belles went on a short 9-3 run to pull within 10 points on a Perkins lay-up, but Angelo State was unable to win the battle of free throws in the last 3:57 of play and could not get closer than within eight points.

Lee put an exclamation mark on the victory with a jumper on an assist from Chelsea Blackshear with 1:26 left in the game, giving the semifinal its final score of 67-55.

For the game, the Lady Buffs shot 50% (6-of-12) from behind the arc, 47.9% (23-of-48) from the field and 83.3% (15-of-18) from the free throw line. They scored 18 points off of 18 Angelo State turnovers while outscoring the `Belles' bench by an 11-2 margin; additionally, WT tallied 26 points in the paint and seven second-chance points as compared to ASU's 18 and two points, respectively.