Despite having to share the regular-season title, when it came to the Lone Star Conference Women’s Basketball Championship tournament, West Texas A&M will take the title home all to themselves.
An 80-66 victory over No. 5 seed Tarleton State Sunday at Dr Pepper Arena, propelled the Lady Buffs back on top of the conference, despite entering the tournament as the No. 2 seed. But the Lady Buffs had few problems in the first two rounds and after a tough three quarters Sunday, flexed their muscles again to pull away for the win.
Megan Gamble, who was named tournament MVP, paced the Lady Buffs all weekend, especially on Sunday, when she scored 14 points, hit all three of her 3-point attempts and had three steals. Averaging 4.3 points per game entering the tournament, Gamble had not scored in double figures all season but finished over 10 in each of the three tournament games. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Lexy Hightower, who scored 15 points on Sunday, and Tiana Parker, who had eight points and six blocks.
The rest of the all-tournament included TSU’s Katie Webster and Briana Wise of Texas A&M-Commerce.
The Lady Buffs improve to 27-4 and will head into next week’s regional tournament, likely as the No. 2 seed. Tarleton State was ninth in the last ranking but with two wins in the LSC Championship, could move into the top eight spots. The brackets will be revealed at 9 p.m. Sunday night at NCAA.com.
The TexAnns fell short of earning the automatic bid because of a strong second-half performance by the Lady Buffs. For the third straight day, WT started out fast in the third quarter thanks to big 3-pointers from Hightower. The TexAnns battled back and were within seven heading into the fourth at 58-51. But the Lady Buffs kept pouring it on, and especially down in the paint. WT finished the game with a 40-18 advantage in points in the paint.
The 14 tournament titles are more than all other current LSC schools combined (12). It’s also the fourth different venue WT has cut down the nets, having won its first eight conference tournaments in Canyon before the LSC went to a neutral site event in 2008. Since then, the Lady Buffs won the first three in Bartlesville, Okla., two in Allen and now their first in Frisco.
2018 Lone Star Conference Championship All-Tournament Team
Brianna Wise, Texas A&M-Commerce
Katie Webster, Tarleton State
Tiana Parker, West Texas A&M
Lexy Hightower, West Texas A&M
Megan Gamble, West Texas A&M (MVP)
West Texas A&M Notes
- West Texas A&M wins its league-leading 14th LSC Tournament Title with a 14-7 record all-time in tournament finals
- WT is now 53-16 in the LSC Tournament overall
- Lady Buffs are now 38-11 all-time against the TexAnns
- West Texas A&M took the lead with 7:53 left in the second quarter and never trailed or tied with Tarleton State for the rest of the game
- Lady Buffs hit their last nine field goal attempts
- WT got 25 points off the bench to just 7 for Tarleton State
- Lady Buffs shot 50 percent from the three-point line
- Tyesha Taylor led WT in scoring with 16 points on 8-10 shooting and also tied for the team lead with six rebounds
Tarleton State Notes
- Tarleton State is now 14-14 all-time at the Lone Star Conference Championships
- TSU finishes the year 20-11 and went 1-2 against West Texas A&M this season. The TexAnns won on the road 66-64 in Canyon with an 87-60 loss later in the season in Stephenville.
- Out-rebounded West Texas A&M 18-10 on the offensive glass, but lost the overall rebound battle 31-32.