LSC Women's Basketball Championship Central

After a late-season stumble in the regular season, Texas A&M-Commerce seems to back in high gear, looking like the team that won its first 26 games of the season.

            The Lions (28-2) have rebounded – literally – winning two straight in Frisco to advance to the LSC Championship final after beating Eastern New Mexico, 68-59 at Comerica Center. The top-seeded Lions will look to claim the school’s first tournament title since 2007 when they face No. 3 seed Lubbock Christian at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

            Equally important, the Lions kept their hopes alive to move up in the regional rankings and host next week’s regional tournament.

            On Saturday, the Lions used a smothering defense to keep the Greyhounds off the mark for most of the game. A late rally by ENMU trimmed into what was once a 21-point fourth quarter lead. But the Lions were never seriously threatened as they controlled the boards, pulling down 60 rebounds, which is tied for the most in an LSC Championship game. The Lions also outscored ENMU in bench points, 23-2.

            “I thought our energy, effort and our desire to win the game was there for 40 minutes,” said A&M-Commerce head coach Jason Burton, who was named LSC Coach of the Year. “I thought our focus was really there. We were feeding off our defense and our bench energy. That’s been our team all year.”

            Four players finished in double figure scoring for A&M-C, led by Chania Wright’s 12 points. Agang Tac came off the bench to score 11, while Maddison Glass and Alexis Bryant each had 10. Juliana Louis had seven points and 12 boards.

            ENMU’s Zamorye Cox had 20 points and five assists. Natalie Stice scored 13 and Natalie DeLonge had 12. Alivia Lewis pulled down 12 rebounds for the Greyhounds, who will now wait to see if they get an at-large bid for next week’s regional tournament.

            ENMU (22-8) currently ranks ninth in the South Central Regional rankings, but have won twice this week, including a quarterfinal win over No. 8 Tarleton on Thursday.
 
A&M-Commerce Notes:

• The Lions tied an LSC Championship record with 60 rebounds, equaling Abilene Christian in an 1990 game.
• A&M-Commerce tied the school record with 28 wins this season.
• The Lions advance to the program’s first LSC Championship final since the 2007 season when they cut down the nets in Commerce.
• In holding the Greyhounds to 59 points, the Lions are 22-1 this season when holding their opponents to 60 points or less.
• The first quarter has been big all season for the Lions, who outscored their opponents by 210 points. And that didn’t change Saturday, jumping out to a 19-11 edge after the first.

 
ENMU Notes:

• Saturday’s loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Greyhounds.
• Sophomore guard Zamorye Cox added three more steals, giving her 82 this season, the second-most in ENMU school history.
• Cox is the Greyhounds’ single-season leader in points (405), 3-pointers (61), steals (82) and assists (147).