Spurgin Carries Lady Buffs Into LSC Finals Again - Lone Star Conference Skip To Main Content
Vladimir Cherry

Women's Basketball By Nick Eatman

Spurgin Carries Lady Buffs Into LSC Finals Again

Championship teams usually rise to the top when it counts the most. West Texas A&M, the defending champs of the LSC tournament here in Frisco, found itself in a battle with No. 4 seed Texas A&M-Commerce, only leading by a point at the half.
 
      But the Lady Buffs turned it up a few notches in the second half and eventually pulled away from the Lions for a 58-44 win in the semifinals. The win secures WT a spot in Sunday’s LSC Championship final (3:30 p.m.)  against the winner of Angelo State and Tarleton State semifinal at Comerica Center.
 
      West Texas A&M improved to 28-3 with the win and helped its cause to host next week’s regional tournament as the current No. 1 ranked team in the South Central Region. The Lions (20-10) are currently ranked eighth and will hope that Thursday’s win over (No. 7) Eastern New Mexico will help secure a spot.
 
      But early on Saturday, the Lions looked prime to be playing their win into the regional tournament. A&M-C jumped out to a 12-5 lead on the Lady Buffs and hung in there for the entire first half, trailing 26-25.
 
      However, Commerce couldn’t get the shots to fall in the third quarter (3 of 9 from the field) and then a dismal 3 of 18 in the fourth, including 0-5 from 3-point land.
 
      Meanwhile, the Lady Buffs had few problems scoring, especially when they dumped the ball down to Abby Spurgin, who came off the bench to score a game-high 16 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the floor. Spurgin also had six blocks and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lady Buffs, who owned the glass for a 41-29 advantage. Lexy Hightower, the LSC’s Player of the Year, scored 10 of her 11 points in the second half. She was joined by Delaney Nix, who scored 11.
 
      The Lions were led by Alexis Bryant (12 points, six rebounds) and Princess Davis (11 points, five assists).
     
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 55-17, with Angelo State sitting at 30 for the second-most victories.
  • WT will play in its 22nd LSC Championship final and 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.
  • Despite having only one point at the half, Hightower (11 points) has now reached double figures in scoring nine straight games and 24 times overall.
  • Spurgin tied her season-high with six blocked shots.
  • After recording 11 rebounds on Friday, Spurgin had 10 boards on Saturday, giving her two of her four best rebounding games this year here in Frisco.
  • Delaney Nix scored 11 points to reach double figures for the first time in over a month and just the fifth time this season.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce Notes:
  • Commerce is now 12-23 in LSC Championship games, but missed out on reaching its second-ever LSC Championship final appearance.
  • Davis scored 11 points, after a season-best 25 on Friday, to reach double-figures for the sixth straight game.
  • After recording their best 3-point game of the season Friday night (50 percent on 10 of 20 attempts), the Lions only made 2 of 10, including 0-5 in the second half Saturday vs. West Texas A&M.
  • The Lions only got seven bench points vs. West Texas A&M, which had 27 off the bench.