West Texas A&M found out right away that defending their Lone Star Conference tournament championship crown won't be easy.

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            But timely 3-point shooting and clutch free-throws down the stretch helped the No. 1 seed Lady Buffs stave off Northeastern State, 66-61, Wednesday in the LSC quarterfinals in Bartlesville.

            Jamie Dreiling led four double-digit scorers for WT with 17 points and 11 rebounds. But her missed free throw with 16 seconds to play, left the door open for NSU, trailing by just three. However, Alix Perkins' wide-open 3-point attempt from the corner rimmed off and Courtney Lee corralled the rebound for West Texas with just five seconds remaining.

            Lee hit the two free throws to give her 15 points and push the WT lead to five.

            The Lady Buffs (23-5) will advance to the second round to face Southeastern Oklahoma Friday evening at Bruin Fieldhouse.

            West Texas is playing its fifth game without star guard Emily Brister, the team's leading scorer and four-time LSC Player of the Year who suffered a season-ending knee injury on Feb. 11.

            But since the injury, five different Lady Buff players have registered season-highs, including Holly Isaacs' 12 points Wednesday against Northeastern. Isaacs hit four 3-pointers, while Joni Unruh scored 11 of her 13 points in the first half.

            For the RiverHawks, Jessica White led the way with 14 points. Lindsey Sams had 13 points.

            Even without Brister, who averaged 23.4 points a game, the Lady Buffs came out firing in the first half, cruising to a 21-5 lead midway through the first half.

West Texas led by as many as 17 in the first half - 30-13 with 5:35 remaining. But the RiverHawks didn't go down quietly. Trailing 34-18 in the final two minutes before halftime, Northeastern scored eight straight point, including consecutive 3-pointers from Sarah Millar and Jasmine Webb to close WT's lead to 34-26 at the half.

The RiverHawks have the shortest trip to Bartlesville, just 115 miles from the Tahlequah, Okla. campus. With a nice crowd and the school's band in attendance, NSU kept fighting in the second half.

Trailing by eight, Perkins and Sams hit consecutive 3-pointers in a less than 30 seconds, quickly cutting WT's lead to three and forcing a timeout.

But the Lady Buffs responded with two straight 3's of their own - the first by Isaacs, followed by another 3-pointer from Lee, pushing the lead back to nine with 8:03 to play.

            West Texas got the lead up to 13 at one point before NSU made one last push. Three straight jumpers by the RiverHawks cut the lead to three with 1:04 to go. But Dreiling's baseline jumper with 37 seconds left, gave the Buffs a five-point edge. Perkins' layup cut the lead to three but she came up short on a game-tying attempt in the final seconds.

            West Texas will look to claim its third LSC tourney championship in a four-year span. To do that, the Lady Buffs will have to get past Southeastern, which handed WT its first loss back in December, 69-65.          

Northeastern State Notes

The RiverHawks slipped to 4-5 in games decided by five points or less in 2008-09... Junior forward Jessica White scored a season-high 14 points and only her third game in double figures this year... Senior guard Lindsey Sams recorded her 11th game of 10 points or more by finishing with 13 points. Sams hit a pair of 3-pointers and now has hit at least two treys in seven her last nine games... Sophomore Jasmine Webb scored only eight points after leading the team in scoring... "The Fab Freshman" who accounted for 50 percent of NSU's scoring this season combined for just 20 points in the loss Tuesday (32.8 percent)... Northeastern State fell to 7-7 all time in eight appearances at the Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament in head coach Randy Gipson's 10 seasons...

West Texas A&M Notes

Without the LSC South Division Player of the Year Emily Brister, West Texas A&M used a 51 percent shooting performance to advance to the second round of the LSC Postseason Tournament for the seventh straight season... Junior guard Holly Isaacs became the fifth Lady Buff to post a season-high since Brister went down with her season-ending injury. Isaacs poured in 12 points on four threes, two of which came after the RiverHawks had cut the lead to five and then three... WTAMU is now 33-11 in 21 appearances in the championship event.

West Texas A&M Quotes

Coach Krista Gerlich on the game:

"I thought this game was exactly what we expected.  I knew it was going to be a game of runs.  They (NSU) continue to shoot the ball and make picks and that is a tribute to Coach (Randy) Gipson's offense.  If you were sitting in the stands today, you got to see a very good game."

Coach Gerlich on what it has been like with out Emily Brister:

"Ever since Emily went down, I have notice that our shot selection has been a lot better.  The offense has become more patient.  I told our players that it was going to take more than just one player to replace Emily.  It was going to take the entire team and I think they really put their focus on that."

Courtney Lee on how Emily Brister has made her a better player:

"Emily has made me a better player defensively, no doubt.  We've competed against each other our entire careers.  We pushed each other to make both us the players we are today.  I am grateful for everything she has done for me in my career."

Northeastern State University Quotes

Randy Gipson, NSU Head Coach

"I think it's obvious because of the start we put ourselves in a deeper hole than we wanted. It might have been a product of our inexperience and maybe their experience. I was proud of the way our team got settled and fought hard and fought our way back in the game.

About West Texas A&M

"They had an exceptional shooting day. Most of their shots were coming out on the floor. We made them really play in the second half.  They played well to win the game. Some of the shots they were making, were stuff I had not seen on tape before."

About his team

"I felt we matched them after the first 10 minutes. Our play in the trenches was enough to win. We contained well and we covered the defensive boards well. We kept with our offense and eventually got us to the point that we were making shots."

At halftime

"We figured out that we could do this. Maybe the initial atmosphere got us off our game from the start. We started to play in the second half. Our kids have a lot of pride and started showing that we can play hard. They saw once they did that, good things can happen. We went into the locker room believing. They made a lot of shots on the floor, stuff that I hadn't seen on tape before.

Without Emily Brister

"We prepared for them the same way we would've done with her. They still got three senior starters. They are still a very experienced team.

Cristy Nitz, Fr, G

"We started to run our offense and getting our screens set. We were able to hit some shots from the outside. We started landing screens better that helped get us open.

"I think we can do it next year. We were young. We have to go out and fight and go all the way."