No. 1 Seed Lady Buffs Roll Past Javelinas, 74-51 - Lone Star Conference Skip To Main Content
Vladimir Cherry

Women's Basketball By Nick Eatman

No. 1 Seed Lady Buffs Roll Past Javelinas, 74-51

West Texas A&M took its first step towards a repeat title on Friday with a convincing 74-51 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville at Comerica Center.
 
      The No. 1 seeded Lady Buffs, who actually split the two meetings with the Javelinas in the regular season, had no trouble establishing themselves as the dominant team in this quarterfinal matchup.
 
      In her first game since earning LSC Player of the Year honors, Lexy Hightower didn’t disappoint, scoring 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting, including four 3-pointers. She was one of four WT players in double figures, along with Nathalie Linden’s 13 points, 11 from Megan Gamble and 10 from Abby Spurgin, who also had 11 boards. Deleyah Harris just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
 
      West Texas A&M advances to Saturday night’s semifinal game (6 p.m. tipoff) against the winner of Eastern New Mexico and Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
      The Lady Buffs not only lost at Kingsville on Jan. 10 for their first defeat of the season, but struggled with the Javelinas at home on Feb. 16 before winning by 10. But the third time was never a doubt.
 
      The Lady Buffs dominated the boards, outrebounding Kingsville 47-28. They also had a 44-22 advantage in points in the paint.
 
      The final score could’ve been worse had it not been for a surge by Kingsville, which scored more points in the third quarter (20) then in the first half alone, when they scored only 18 and found themselves down by 20 at the break.
 
      The Javelinas, whose season comes to an end at 9-20, had three players in double figures, led by Ravae Payne with 14. Kristina Kana had 11 and Bri-Anna Soliz scored 10.
 
West Texas A&M Notes:
  • The Lady Buffs extended their sizable lead on all other teams in the LSC in all-time victories in the LSC Championship. WT improved to 54-17, with Angelo State sitting at 30 for the second-most victories.
  • WT is seeking a 15th LSC tournament title and second straight after cutting down the nets last year in Frisco.
  • Since the LSC went to a neutral site tournament in 2008, the Lady Buffs have won six of the 11 championships.
  • The Lady Buffs have now won at least one game in the LSC Championship in the last eight seasons.
  • Since going scoreless in a game against Western New Mexico on Feb. 7, Hightower has now reached double figures in scoring eight straight games and 23 times overall.
  • Hightower also tied her season-high for steals with three against the Javelinas.
  • Nathalie Linden had a career-high in points with 13 and rebounds with eight.

Texas A&M-Kingsville Notes:
  • The Javelinas fall to 11-18 all-time in LSC Championship games.
  • Texas A&M-Kingsville was looking to record another win as the No. 8 seed. Since the LSC went to the eight-seed format in 2012, Kingsville is the only team to win as the eighth seed, a feat it accomplished in 2017 in Allen, by beating No. 1 seed Eastern New Mexico.
  • Kristina Kana had a season-high 11 points, reaching double figures for only the second time all year.
  • Committing 10 turnovers was only the third-fewest single game total of the season for the Javelinas.