West Texas Rolls To LSC Final With 30-Point Win
West Texas A&M proved again why college basketball in March is just a different story.
Even without leading scorer and four-time Player of the Year Emily Brister, the Lady Buffs rolled past Southeastern Oklahoma Friday night, 93-63, in the Lone Star Conference tournament semifinal round.
West Texas will look to repeat as tournament champs on Saturday when they face the winner of Central Oklahoma and Texas A&M-Commerce. The Lady Buffs will play in their LSC-record 15th tournament final, where they have a 9-5 record.
The Lady Buffs (24-5) avenged a six-point loss back in December to SOSU even with Brister, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on Feb. 11.
But the second time around, West Texas found scoring help from Jamie Dreiling, who had 23 points, two shy of matching her career high. Courtney Lee had 15 points and five assists, while Joni Unruh scored 13, Megan McLain had 12 and Holly Isaacs chipped in with 10 points, hitting all four of her field goals, including two 3-pointers. Isaacs also had a team-high six assists.
For the Savage Storm, only first-team All-LSC North Division selection Destiny Brown was effective, scoring 21 points and pulling down six boards. Elizabeth Dean came off the bench to score 10 points.
West Texas is looking to retain to the No. 1 ranking in the South Central Region. For the Storm, making next week's regional tournament is still uncertain, although SOSU is currently ranked sixth, with the top eight teams advancing.
The Lady Buffs jumped on Southeastern from the very start, scoring the first six points, four by Unruh. West Texas led 18-9 early on and pushed the lead to as much as 18 on a McLain 3-pointer, giving her squad a 36-18 lead with 5:27 to play in the first half.
SOSU went on a 10-0 run, thanks to seven points by Brown. But West Texas pushed the lead back to 12 at the half. Within the first three minutes of the second half, it was up to 20 and the Lady Buffs poured it on from there.
West Texas not only forced 18 turnovers by the Savage Storm, but held SOSU to just 38.3 percent shooting on 18-of-47 attempts.
The blowout win marked WT's seventh 30-point victory in LSC tournament history.
Not only would a win Saturday give the Lady Buffs their second straight tourney crown, but the third in four years.
WEST TEXAS A&M NOTES
* Senior Jamie Dreiling was the biggest difference in Friday's semifinal win against Southeastern Oklahoma State, especially considering her performance in WT's 69-65 loss at Southeastern on Dec. 15. In that game, Dreiling was held to four points and six rebounds. Friday against the Savage Storm, she had 23 points on 8 of 14 shooting (3 of 5 from 3-point range) and four rebounds to go along with three assists.
* Friday's blowout win against Southeastern Oklahoma State in the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament West Texas A&M in its LSC-record 15th championship game, breaking a tie it had with Abilene Christian.
* The Lady Buffs are now 14-2 all-time in LSC Post-Season Tournament semifinal games with the only two losses coming in 2004 (Angelo State) and 2005 (Northeastern State). In 1989, the Lady Buffs received a bye all the way into the championship game.
* West Texas A&M had a 10-game winning streak in semifinal games from 1987-2003 before suffering the two-year losing streak in 2004 and 2005. Since then, however, the Lady Buffs have won four straight semifinal games.
* West Texas A&M third-year head coach Krista Gerlich has now advanced to the tournament championship game in all three of her seasons, and in three seasons she has a 7-1 record and tournament title (2008) to her credit.
* A win Saturday night by the Lady Buffs would make West Texas A&M only the second women's program in conference history to win back-to-back conference titles on two separate occasions. Abilene Christian won back-to-back league titles in 1985 and 1986 and again in 1998 and 1999. West Texas A&M won four straight league championships from 1987-90, but has not won any of its other five titles in back-to-back fashion.
* The league has only had four back-to-back champions in history: ACU (1985-86), West Texas A&M (1987-90), ACU (1998-99) and Angelo State (2004-05).
* West Texas A&M's 93-63 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State was its seventh 30-point victory in its LSC Post-Season Tournament history. But its nowhere near the program record for margin of victory in the tournament. The 1987 team set the LSC record with a 126-38 win (88-point margin) over Texas A&M-Commerce. The Lady Buffs also own a 43-point win over Texas A&M-Kingsville (1987), 38-point win over ACU (1987), 36-point win over ACU (1990), 34-point win over Eastern New Mexico (1991), 33-point win over Angelo State (1991) and 30-point win over Southeastern Oklahoma State (2009).
* The Lady Buffs are now 33-11 all-time in 44 tournament games, which is the most wins and overall games of any team in league history. ACU is next in each category with 43 games played and 29 victories.
* The Lady Buffs are 18-5 all-time in the tournament against teams that play in the LSC North Division: 3-0 vs. Central Oklahoma, 3-0 vs. SW Oklahoma State, 2-0 vs. East Central, 2-0 vs. Cameron, 1-0 vs. Cameron, 1-0 vs. Texas Woman's, 4-2 vs. Southeastern Oklahoma State, 2-1 vs. Texas A&M-Commerce and 1-2 vs. Northeastern State.
* The Lady Buffs are making their 21st appearance in the LSC Post-Season Tournament, including 16 straight since re-joining the LSC in 1993-94. ACU has made the most appearances all time with 22, followed by West Texas A&M and Angelo State with 21 apiece.
SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMANOTES
SOSU has been knocked out of the Lone Star Conference tournament by West Texas A&M for the second straight season...The Savage Storm are now 2-3 in tournament play against the Lady Buffs...West Texas evened the season-series against Southeastern Oklahoma State after the Savage Storm won the first matchup on Dec. 15, 69-65...The 30-point margin is the largest loss suffered by the Savage Storm this season...Freshman forward Elizabeth Dean recorded 10 points and four rebounds off the bench...Both totals are more than her season averages...Junior Forward Destiny Brown scored 21 points, which is her eighth game this season with at least 20 points...SOSU is now 6-7 all-time in the LSC tournament.
West Texas A&M Quotes
Krista Gerlich
West Texas A&M Coach
"I'm really proud of the way we played. I thought we played inspired. They didn't backdown. I know Southeastern didn't play as well as they thought they could play. I'd like to think that we had some part in that. This is the type of game that allows our confidence to grow and grow."
"Right now we are playing for a lot of different reasons. We are selling out. Going to war and very hungry. We have a lot of nay sayers now and we want to show were not a one-person team."
On the close game with NSU prior
"I thought the Northeastern game was huge, because we had to fight through some adversity. We had to show that we could weather the storm. I think that had a lot to do with our success tonight."
Joni Unruh
"I could see it when we began to warm up. There was a look of determination that we had been missing. Our bench was phenomenal."
"If we play like we play today, it doesn't matter who we play. Hopefully, we will be putting a ring on our finger."
Holly Isaacs
About the Southeastern game prior
"We remembered it. We wanted revenge. I think our mental toughness played a big role in the game."
Southeastern Oklahoma Quotes
Darin Grover - West Texas came in with a great game plan, they
executed well and were on a mission. They played a perfect
game. We had another slow start which has been our Achilles
Heel all season long. We were beaten by the #1 team in the
region so I fully expect us to make the NCAA Regional which is a
major accomplishment. We have beaten West Texas and UCO
(Central Oklahoma) this year so there is no reason for us not to go
into the regional and do well.
Ashley Tucker - We can't let this game get us down. We
didn't have a very good game tonight. If we do what we do
best we will be alright.
Destiny Brown - I had some nerves early on, but was fine.
