With the team’s leading scorer limited because of foul trouble, West Texas A&M called on Chontiquah White to take over. And she responded in a huge way, scoring a career-high 32 points, including six of the Lady Buffs’ seven overtime points to beat MSU in the semifinal round Friday night at the Allen Event Center.

        In a rematch of last year’s LSC Championship Final, a game MSU won in overtime with a buzzer-beater, WT returned the favor with an 86-85 win that sends them into the finals Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. against Tarleton State, the only team that beat them in the regular season.   The championship game will be televised live on CSN Houston's secondary channel, CSN Plus.

        The Lady Buffs improve to 26-2, while the season could be over for MSU (18-11). The Mustangs entered the tournament ranked ninth in the South Central Regional rankings, one spot behind Texas Woman’s. Both teams went 1-1 in the tournament but the Mustangs missed a golden opportunity to beat the No. 1 team in the region.

        MSU and WTAMU went to overtime in the regular season with the Lady Buffs prevailing in Wichita Falls to earn a season sweep. And Friday’s game went down to the wire again as the lead changed hands 19 times with 12 other occasions of a tie score.

        MSU’s Shatoia Gober shot a running 30-footer that banged off the glass for a miss, giving the Lady Buffs the win. Gober had just trimmed a three-point deficit to one on a short jumper in the paint with 36 seconds remaining. She also rebounded a Casey Land 3-point miss with 2.9 seconds remaining to set up the final attempt.

        Similar drama ended regulation when WT led by 2 with 25 seconds left. White missed two free throws but Land was there for an offensive rebound. However she turned the ball over to MSU guard Dianna Jones, who raced the length of the court for a game-tying layup. Land missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer with less than three seconds to play to force overtime.

        In the extra period, the lead changed hands four times but White was dominant, hitting three layups.

        Before overtime, it was more of a free-throw contest as 51 fouls were called on both teams. The Lady Buffs made 23 of 32 foul-stripe attempts while the Mustangs were 19 of 25 from the line.

        Land, who had five steals and 20 points, made all eight free throws but went 0-9 from 3-point land. Leading scorer Devin Griffin played most of the game in foul trouble and sat for nearly 10 minutes after she received her third foul, followed by a technical that became her fourth foul with 17:44 to play. Griffin finished with just eight points and didn’t score in the final 22 minutes of play.

        But White more than picked up the slack with her 32-point, 11-rebound effort. The 32 points ties her for 12^th in LSC Championship history for a single-game performance. Ironically, Griffin had 32 in a game last year in Allen.

        The Mustangs got a career-high 29 points from Andrea Carter, who also led the way on the boards with 12, while playing 40 minutes. Gober scored 13, while Kirsti Degelia and Nicole Smallwood had 11 each.



West Texas A&M Notes

• WT’s 26th LSC Tournament appearance is now the most all time in conference history.
• The Lady Buffs are 43-14 all-time in the LSC tournament which is the most wins (43), games played (57) and winning percentage (.754) in conference history.
• Land, Griffin, Gerald, Logan and White have started every game this season with the exception of Senior Day.
• After trailing 4-0 to start the game, the Lady Buffs went on a 15-2 run spearheaded by two Lacy Logan triples.
• Eight players scored for the Lady Buffs in the first half while the team shot 52% from the field.
• Chontiquah White had her third 20+ point outing of the season with her game-high. Her 32 points tonight is a new career-high and the most by a Lady Buff this season. She also registered her fifth double-double of the season, 19th of her career and team’s ninth of the season.
• The Lady Buffs had two 20+ point scorers in a single game for the second time this season (at Oklahoma Panhandle State 11/19/13).
• Tonight’s contest was tied 12 times and there were 19 lead changes.
• The Lady Buffs played in only their second overtime game of the season. Their first was also against MSU, both wins.
• Only the fourth game this season that Casey Land has not made a three-point field goal when she has at least one attempt.
• Lady Buffs improve to 4-0 on a neutral court this season.
• Tomorrow, WT will make its LSC record 18th tournament finals appearance.

Midwestern State Notes
 

• Midwestern State’s Lisa Hampton did not suit out against West Texas A&M after suffering a left arm injury in the LSC Quarterfinal game against Angelo State.
• Andrea Carter topped the 20-point plateau for the ninth time this season and the seventh time in the last 13 games.
• Andrea Carter’s night included her 11^th double-double of the year, a career-high 12 free throws made, a career-high 13 free throws attempted and a career-high in points with 29.
• At 25 seconds left in the game, all five players on the floor for Midwestern State had four fouls.
• This is Midwestern State’s third consecutive LSC Tournament game that required overtime, including the LSC Quarterfinal against ASU and last year’s Championship game against WT which needed double overtime.
• Midwestern State falls to 18-11 on the season, 11-5 in LSC Tournament games, 3-3 in LSC Semifinal games and 1-1 in tournament games against West Texas A&M.
• The Mustangs have now lost three straight games to West Texas A&M, with the last win against the Lady Buffs coming in last year’s championship game.
• Midwestern State is now 1-4 this season in overtime games and 0-2 this season in overtime games against West Texas A&M.