Three-time LSC South Player of the Year Emily Brister, fresh off
winning her third straight yearly award, has been the best player
in the conference for three years and she was the best player on
the floor in the Lady Buffs' first Lone Star Conference tournament
game Thursday night.
Brister scored 24 points, including 20 in the first half, to lead
West Texas A&M to a 72-65 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State
in quarterfinal action at Bruin Field House.
The Lady Buffs improved to 24-4 and will play Angelo State in
Saturday's semifinal round. West Texas, the No. 1 seed in the South
Division, finished LSC play with a league-best 13-1 conference
record and swept ASU, beating the 'Belles by 21 and 24 points in
the two games.
Brister, who played all 40 minutes of the game, also had 10
rebounds, three assists and seven steals. While she missed a
triple-double by three steals, Brister did record her sixth
double-double of the season and her third straight. Brister has
scored in double figures in every game this season.
The Lady Buffs shot 50 percent from the floor, and 46.7 percent on
3-pointers, hitting 7-of-15 attempts.
SOSU ends its season at 15-13. Three players finished the game in
double figures, led by Jessica Hocker, who had 19 points. Destiny
Brown added 17 points, while Kacey Russell had 13 points.
The Savage Storm hung close throughout the second half after
trailing by as much as 18 points with 11:26 left in the game. A
3-point basket by Brown cut the Lady Buffs' lead to 10 with 6:14 to
play. Southeastern couldn't get much closer until 2:20 when they
trimmed the lead to eight, 70-62. But West Texas guard Courtney
Lee, who scored all of her 14 points in the second half, hit a
driving layup to push the lead back to 10 around the two-minute
mark.
Hocker also had a strong second half, scoring 14 points in the
final 20 minutes. Her two free throws with 1:25 to play cut the
Lady Buffs' edge down to seven at 72-65.
With 30 seconds to play, Brister showed her defensive presence,
taking a charge underneath her basket to prevent a Savage Storm
layup. The Lady Buffs regained possession and ran out the clock for
the win.
In the first half, West Texas had control but the Savage Storm
never fell too far behind until the final two minutes when the Lady
Buffs stretched the lad to 15, holding a 44-29 lead at the break.
Brister started the game on fire, hitting 7-of-8 field goals and
6-of-8 from the foul line for 20 first-half points.
Krista Gerlich
West Texas A&M
"Well I thought Southeastern did a nice job in the second half
as far as not giving up and keep playing hard. I thought we came
out early and set the tone with our defense. We took a number of
charges, and I think it affected them offensively."
I think our depth has been one of our strengths all year long.
We were able to sit three starters for over half of the first half.
We just survived. We got to the rim and got some easy baskets which
really helped us."
"I knew they would come out and go after us. You have to play
people you've already before. If you've already beaten this team,
then they have extra motivation to beat you. I felt we may have let
them have some easy baskets late in the game, but overall we played
well.
( Angelo State )
"It's a great rivalry. They will come out with extra effort.
It's tough to beat a team three times in a season."
Courtney Lee
"If I was open, coach told me to shoot it. We executed our
offenses a lot better than in the second half. If you have an open
shot, we need to be aggressive and shoot it."
Emily Brister
"I had a shorter girl on me so I was able to just shoot over the
top. I did not need to rely on driving to the basket as much as I
normally might have. In the second half, other girls stepped up and
I didn't need to shoot it as much."
"It still needs some work. I think everybody did well. I was
just in the right place at the right time. "
"It's tournament time and I'm prepared. If I can play 40 minutes
every game, I would do it if coach would let me."
Dixie Bell
"It was a big win, and we just want to keep going with it. We
would like to keep the momentum. Our energy is high right now, and
we just want to keep going with it."
Coach Darin Grover - General Comments...
"West Texas played a great game; they were just red-hot from
three point land."
"I'm proud of our kids, the way they came back like that from
being down so much at the half. We played really good in the
second half, we just got down too far in the first."
Grover - On halftime adjustments...
"There's really not any magic words to say. I just told
them to keep fighting and playing hard. It was going to have
to be a possession by possession half and I thought they did a
great job doing that."
Jessica Hocker - On playing in her final
game...
"It's sad. I've been here for awhile, though the good and
the bad. Things got better when Coach Darin got here and I've
enjoyed most of it."
Hocker - on what she's going to do now...
"I've graduated and I'm looking to go into coaching. So,
if anyone knows of any coaching jobs out there..."
West Texas A&M Notes:
The Lady Buffs became the first team in LSC history to win 30
tournament games. West Texas A&M improves to 30-11 in this
tournament . . . Courtney Lee finished the game with 14
points, scoring all of them in the second half . . . Brister has
six double-doubles this year, including three straight . . .
Brister recorded her 20th 20-point game and picked that
up in the first half with 20 points . . . Brister had her
second-highest total in steals with seven. She had eight in a win
over Central Oklahoma in December . . . Brister played all 40
minutes for the third time. She also has two games over 40 minutes
that went to overtime . . . West Texas A&M is now 10-5 in the
all-time series against Southeastern Oklahoma . . . WTAMU has now
won six straight first-round games in the LSC Tournament.
Southeastern as a team
- The
Savage Storm now have a 5-6 all-time record in the Lone Star
Conference Tournament
-
UPDATED RECORD WHEN: Southeastern Oklahoma State falls to
3-9 when trailing at halftime...SOSU falls to 2-5 when shooting
between .400 and .449 from the field...4-4 when attempting between
15-19 3 pointers...11-8 when they outrebound their opponents...6-2
when they force 20+ turnovers...
- SOSU
shot its eighth-highest percentage of the season, making 43.5% of
its field goals.
- With the
Lady Buffs' hitting 50% of their shots, it is the third highest by
a SOSU opponent
Jessica Hocker
- Led the
Savage Storm with 19 points and it is the 10th time that
she has led SOSU and the first time since an 81-73 win over
Southwestern Oklahoma State (Jan. 23)
- Hocker
added to her single-season record free throws made (198) and free
throws attempted (254) with a 9-for-12 effort in the contest
- Hocker
scored in double figures for the 26th time of the season
Destiny Brown
- Brown
led the Savage Storm in rebounding for the 20th time in
2007-08
- Brown
became the first SOSU player in 2007-08 to hit all of her field
goals (minimum 5) in a game.
- Brown
scored in double figures for the 17th time and the
seventh game in a row
Ashley Tucker
- With a
team-high three assists, she concludes her season with 147 for the
sixth most in school history in a season.
Kacey Russell
- Russell
scored in double figures for the 16th time and
10th time in the last 11 games.