By TWU Athletics Communications
DENTON, Texas (December 19, 2019) – After starting strong and keeping No. 7 Texas A&M-Commerce within reach, Texas Woman's faltered in the second half in a 76-46 loss Thursday night in Magee Arena.
TWU (3-5, 1-3 Lone Star) hit 33% from the floor in the first quarter and made nine of 10 free throws to match A&M-Commerce which only had a 15-14 lead after one.
With the Lions applying more pressure in the second period, the Pioneers fought hard against the full court press and double teaming. But they didn't take care of the ball and turned it over 13 times which A&M-Commerce converted into layups on fast breaks to build a 33-23 lead at halftime.
"We didn't handle their pressure which led to easy transition points," Head coach
Beth Jillson said. "Commerce is a very good team and they did a really good job getting up and pressuring us. We allowed it to snowball."
The Pioneers did not help their cause as a slow start after the intermission allowed A&M-Commerce (10-0, 4-0 LSC) to continue to capitalize on turnovers. The Lions built a 19-point lead at 48-29 before the Pioneers went on a streak from the charity stripe, making six free throws in a row and hitting all eight in the period.
But the undefeated Lions poured it on in the final frame starting on a 19-1 run with TWU's free throw coming at 6:18 from
Ngozi Obineke. The Pioneers could not get anything going on either end of the court with the Lions going up by 30 at 68-38 with 5:18 remaining. Subs off the bench provided a little spark for TWU with
Madyson Johnson hitting a jumper and then grabbing an offensive rebound for the put back while
Trinity Bell hit two jumpers as the game wound down. A&M-Commerce, which is only allowing 49.7 points per game to lead the league, outscored TWU 26-9 and hit a strident 61.5% field goal percentage in the fourth period.
Ma'K'La Woods and
London Archer led TWU with 11 points apiece.
Carissa Moody had a game-high 12 rebounds.
The Pioneers host UT Tyler (2-6, 0-4 LSC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. before heading into the mandatory NCAA winter break.
