The leading scorer in the conference didn't disappoint, actually exceeding her average in Wednesday's LSC championship quarterfinal.

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            But with the game on the line, Texas A&M-Commerce star Britney Jordan won the game with a pass. The score knotted 74-74 in the final seconds, Jordan drove the lane, but dished to Nola Taylor, to promptly banked in the game-winner with just five seconds remaining. ACU's Autumn Whitaker missed a desperation 3-pointer, giving the Lions (18-10) a stunning 76-74 upset over the No. 2 seed in the South Division.

            Jordan, recently named LSC North Division Player of the Year, scored 35 points on an LSC-Tournament record 33 field goal attempts. Jordan also grabbed 10 rebounds - one of three A&M-Commerce player to post double-doubles. Ashley Murphy had 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Taylor added 12 points and 12 rebounds.

            For the Wildcats (18-11), Jamie Meyer scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds. Kelsey Darber scored 15 points and Kristee Davidson and Audrey Maxwell-Lively each had 10 points.

            The loss might hurt ACU's chances of making next week's South Central Regional tournament. The Wildcats are currently seventh in Wednesday's latest rankings, with the top eight teams advancing.

            While Jordan lit up the nets, it was actually way far below her performance in the first meeting with ACU back in January, when she scored 53 points in a 104-95 loss to the Wildcats. Jordan broke the LSC single-game scoring record, which stood for only three days before TWU's Renee Renz scored 63 against the same ACU squad.

            Remarkably, the Wildcats managed to win both games.

            But Wednesday night, ACU didn't make enough shots down the stretch, allowing the Lions to end the game on a 12-2 run.

            A&M-Commerce avenged last year's loss to ACU in the LSC Tournament quarterfinals. In fact, this was the Lions' first win over the Wildcats in five tournament games.

            The win advances Commerce to the semifinals where they face the winner of Central Oklahoma-Tarleton State on Friday.

            In the first half, ACU jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but only led by as much as nine (22-13) before Jordan helped the Lions cut into the lead. Behind her 15 points, A&M-Commerce trailed by just four at halftime, 40-36.

            ACU again gained control and when Whitaker scored on a layup with 12:07 to play, the Wildcats had their largest lead, a 12-point advantage.

            But that's when Jordan went to work, hitting two straight 3-point baskets. A 14-4 run helped the Lions pull to within two points at 60-58 with 8:25 left. Although ACU pushed the lead back to 72-64, A&M-Commerce guard Genevieve Campbell hit a big 3-pointer to pull within five. After two Jordan free throws, Campbell tied the game with another 3, just her third make beyond the arc in 10 attempts.

            Tied at 72, the Lions took their first lead when Taylor scored from an assist by Jordan, which proved to be foreshadowing for the winning shot.

            But ACU did tie the score on a long two-pointer from Kat Kundmueller with 29 seconds to play.

            Despite her points and record-setting shot attempts, Jordan opted for the pass, which not only proved to be the game-winner, but will send A&M-Commerce to the semifinals.

 Texas A&M-Commerce Game Notes

Britney Jordan scored in the 30-plus points for the 17^th time this season

Nola Taylor has posted 14 double-doubles on the season

Three Texas A&M-Commerce players posted double-doubles (Britney Jordan 35 pts, 10 rebs.; Nola Taylor 10 pts., 12 rebs.; Ashley Murphy 12 pts., 13 rebs.)

Ashley Murphy's 13 rebounds is a career high

Four TAMUC players scored in double figures (Jordan, 35; Murphy, 12; Campbell, 11; Taylor, 10)

ACU  Notes
The Wildcats had four players in double figures in the loss. After Meyer's
22, Kelsey Darby had 15 points and Audrey Maxwell-Lively and Kristee
Davidson each had 10 points.
ACU's 17 three-point attempts ties the second highest tally of the season.
The Wildcats hit just 2-of-17 tries from beyond the arc (11.8%).
The 35 points given up to A&M-C's Britney Jordan is tied for the
third-highest output by an opponent against the Wildcats this season.
ACU's Audrey Maxwell-Lively 3-point attempt at the 16:13 mark of the first
half Wednesday night was her first 3-point attempt of the season and only
the second of her career.  Prior to Wednesday night, she was 1 for 1 in
her career from beyond the arc with her only attempt (and make) coming
Nov. 27, 2007, against Incarnate Word.

Jamie Meyer posted her third double-double of the season Wednesday against
Texas A&M-Commerce as she finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds.  Her
first double-double of the season was a 49-point, 14-rebound effort on
Jan. 5 in ACU's record-setting 147-143 quadruple-overtime win over Texas
Woman's. She then had 13 points and 15 rebounds in an 83-43 win over
Texas-Permian Basin on Feb. 7.

The ACU Wildcats are 13-2 on the season when leading at halftime, losing
to Angelo State (Feb. 14) and Texas A&M-Commerce (March 4).  The Wildcats
are 8-4 on the season when they score first.

Texas A&M-Commerce's 76-74 win was only its 10th ever victory against ACU,
and its first ever over the Wildcats in the Lone Star Conference
Post-Season Tournament (1-4).

ACU's loss to Texas A&M-Commerce marked just the third time in its 22 LSC
Post-Season Tournament appearances that the Wildcats have lost their first
game in the tournament.  In 2000, ACU lost to  Southeastern Oklahoma
State, and then lost in the first round to Central Oklahoma in 2007.

Quotes from Coach Denny Downing, Britney Jordan, and Nola Taylor

Downing: "Just give Abilene a lot of credit. They fought us hard and really controlled the whole game. It was a great job by Coach Lavender, you know, they made us work for everything we could get. I hope this doesn't hurt their opportunities to make it to the NCAA tournament because they are a quality team. I just feel very fortunate that we have two players like this (Jordan & Taylor) and were able to get the win.

Regarding the final play...

Downing: "We just flattened it out to Britney and I thought they would run up on her to stop her and I told her to look for those posts."

Downing: "I knew if we could just get the last possession we would make it happen, that's just being proud of your kids that will never quit. You watch the warm up at the beginning of the game and see only seven kids, you watch the rotation, you have seven, but we were the stronger team at the end of the game. You can't measure the heart of a champion, and these two kids on left didn't want the season to end."

Regarding play against Audrey Maxwell-Lively...

Taylor: I've had some nice matchups all season. Tonight, we gave her some different looks, playing 2-3 and 3-2 zones, trying to give her different looks to put her off her game."

Regarding fouls being called loosely...

Taylor: "Keeps me out of foul trouble."

Regarding last shot...

Taylor: "I thought BJ (Jordan) was going to take the last shot, so I was just looking for back side rebound, and she ended up passing it to me."

Jordan: I think everyone in gym thought I would shoot the ball, and I knew the defense was pretty sure. I believe in my teammates and they believe in me, I knew I could shoot the shot or pass it and I was confident that they would make the shot.

Regarding the trouble finishing shots earlier in the game...

Jordan: "My team kept reminding me that the game is 40 minutes. I'm not going to stop until the buzzer goes off. Things opened up for me a little bit, and I knew when the time came the shot would fall. This is my last year, so I didn't want this to be my last game. It's a testament to the team. We all knew what time it was, and it was crunch time for everyone, including myself.

Regarding break before next game...

Downing: It's huge to get that rest tomorrow. I think the format for the tournament is good, it gets us off our legs. This time of year, it's not about practice, it's about being fresh and not too injured. We don't do a lot of practice at this time in the season. We shoot the ball a little bit and talk about the game plan and how we want to defend. I think the day off will help us. NSU gave WT a battle and we were real close to having four north teams stay in the tournament. In the regional rankings we're right there and we beat a regionally ranked team, so we're right there. But our kids know, we probably need to win this tournament to make it.

Regarding scoring 35 points and winning or 53 points and losing...

Jordan: "I'll take two points for the win if that's what it takes. I want to win and whatever I can do to help my team win that's what I'll do. Looking back on my career, I could be proud of that 53 points, but I will take a win over any amount of points any day."

Downing: "I told Gen (Genevieve Campbell), you're going to hit 'em when they count. One things about Gen is that once you get her focused, she's pretty good. It goes back to these kids being good and not being afraid to throw it to her. Those two 3s were big and us being able to throw it to her was good. Ashley Murphy was good tonight, and Anisha Ingram did a great job tonight."

Downing: "I can't say enough about these seven players. We play for the name on the front of the shirt, not on the back. These seven players believe that."

Abilene Christian University Game Quotes

Shawna Lavender

Abilene Christian University Coach

"I felt for 36 minutes of the game, we did a good job of controlling the tempo of the game. What can you say, about (Britney) Jordan.
She just simply took over the game at the end. She either scored or created shots for other players."

"I think we took some bad shots in the last four minutes. We got out of our game plan and didn't look inside anymore."

"I felt we did a good job on the offensive boards. We did a poor job of executing it. We could've got better looks with our second-chance points. We took some bad shots. We rushed some shots instead of taking care of the ball.

‘We settled for the outside to early in the possession. We needed to be more patient and wait for better shots to develop."

On Britney Jordan

"We knew Jordan would get her points. We just didn't want anyone else to hurt us. Unfortunately for us, it was the other people who hurt us tonight. You don't stop a kid like that. We try to contain her and take away all the other kids."

About ACU's season

"I think we are right on the border, there is not a lot of upsets. A lot depends what happens in this tournament and in the MIAA.

Audrey Maxwell-Lively

"I think they did a good job against me. They did one of the best jobs defending us as a team in the post."

Kelsey Darby

"We were all expecting her to take the shot. What else can you do in a situation like that?"

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