March 4, 2008

Quarterfinal vs. Southeastern Okla. Game Notes in PDF Format

CANYON, Texas - The West Texas A&M women's basketball team finished the regular season atop the Lone Star Conference South Division, never having relinquished the No. 1 spot, and now is ready to enter the LSC Tournament this week looking to continue its postseason play in Barlesville, Okla. This season, the Lady Buffs accumulated an overall record of 23-4 with a league best 13-1 mark in LSC play, while benefitting from an outstanding team and individual effort.

Tournament play for WT begins on Thursday night as the Lady Buffs face the North's fourth-seeded Southeastern Oklahoma in an 8:30 p.m. match-up at Bruin Field House; earlier this season, WT beat SOSU in Canyon, Texas, by a 66-48 margin in its first game following the holiday break.

The Lady Buffs enter tournament play with momentum, as they have won seven consecutive games and nine of their last 10. Their only conference loss came against Abilene Christian in Abilene, Texas, when they dropped a tough 71-66 overtime decision; however, WT stormed back with a vengeance against the Wildcats last week, picking up a hard-fought 60-58 win at the First United Bank Center. That win over ACU clinched the South Division title as well as the No. 1 seed in the tournament, while also extending the Lady Buffs' home game win streak to 45 consecutive contests.

Last week also was a banner week for junior All-American Emily Brister, as she tallied two double-doubles - one against ACU and another against Texas Woman's - and set two new school records in the process. Against Abilene Christian, the Amarillo, Texas, native collected 25 points and 12 rebounds to push her three-year point total to 1,993 and surpass former Lady Buff Celeste Stevenson's record of 1,988 career points. Following that fantastic performance, Brister tallied 15 points and 13 rebounds against TWU in Denton, Texas, to become the first Lady Buff in school history to score more than 2,000 points--the junior now has a total of 2,008 career points, a tally that also places her third in the LSC's record books.

Other match-ups in the quarterfinal rounds of the LSC tournament pit second-seeded Abilene Christian (17-10; 11-3 LSC-S) against LSC defending champions Texas A&M-Commerce (19-8; 8-4 LSC-N) - the third seed out of the North Division - at Noon, followed by a 2:30 p.m. contest between No. 3 Tarleton State (17-10; 8-6 LSC-S) and the North's top-seeded school, Central Oklahoma (21-6; 9-3 LSC-N). The third game of the women's bracket matches third-seeded Angelo State (22-7; 9-5 LSC-S) against the North's No. 2 Northeastern State (16-11; 9-3 LSC-N), with the WT-SOSU game rounding out the first day of games.