No. 6 West Texas A&M holds off St. Mary’s to advance, 66-62 - Lone Star Conference Skip To Main Content

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No. 6 West Texas A&M holds off St. Mary’s to advance, 66-62

Championship Central
 
By NICK EATMAN

FRISCO, Texas –  No program has been more dominant in the LSC Championship Tournament than No. 6 West Texas A&M. But the Lady Buffs hadn’t won a tournament game in four years before putting an end to that drought on Friday.

WT, the No. 2 seed in this year’s tourney, held off a gritty St. Mary’s squad for a 66-62 victory to advance to the semifinals. It’s the first win for the Lady Buffs since they cut the nets down to win the 2022 tourney, their 16th conference championship.

Fittingly, the MVP of that tournament was Karley Motschenbacher, who paced the Lady Buffs down the stretch in the fourth quarter scoring 15 points with seven rebounds. Randi Harding had 13 points and hit two clutch free throws in the final 2.6 seconds to preserve the four-point win.

WT (27-3) will play No. 3 seed UT Tyler at 8:30 at Comerica Center with a trip to the tournament finals on the line.

In the early going Friday, WT was in total control, leading by 19 at the 6:35 mark of the second quarter. But that’s when SMU ignited a rally, led by reserve guard Brianna Vargas, who scored eight straight points as the Rattlers trimmed the lead to five at the half.

The momentum only continued for the Rattlers, who controlled the pace and hit timely buckets to grab the lead, 51-48 early in the fourth.

But that’s when Motschenbacher took over, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter alone to help the Buffs hold on for the win.

Along with Motschenbacher, Taylor Haggan scored 15 and had six boards. Harding scored 13, while Kyla Kane added 12.

For the Rattlers, Aina Maynou had a game-high 19 points. Vargas scored 13 off the bench, sparked by three 3-pointers. Quezi Bertoni added 11 points and five assists and Malik Raynne scored 10. The season likely ends for the Rattlers at 16-11.
 
 West Texas A&M Notes:
  • The Lady Buffs won their first LSC Championship game since cutting down the nets in 2022. Since then, it’s been three straight quarterfinal exits before Friday’s win.
  • The Lady Buffs lead the LSC in scoring at 76.1 points but fell way short of the average at 66. Still, WT is now 27-1 when scoring over 60.
  • Leading the conference in 3-point makes at 7.6 per game, the Lady Buffs were held to nearly half the average with just 4-of-16. It was just the fifth time this season they failed to make at least five 3’s in a game.
  • Claire Graham tied her season-high with seven rebounds.
St. Mary’s Notes:
  • The Rattlers made their first LSC Tournament appearance since 2021. It’s now been six years since the program’s lone tournament win in 2020 when they were the No. 8 seed and won a first-round game to advance to the quarterfinals.
  • St. Mary’s tied its season-high with 11 made 3-pointers on 24 attempts. The 45.8 average beyond the arc was also the Rattlers’ second-highest percentage, only behind a 47.6 average – also against West Texas A&M on Jan. 10.
  • Brianna Vargas scored in double figures for only the second time all season. She had 15 points in the season opener on Nov. 14 vs. South Dakota Mines and now wrapped up the season with 13.
  • Entering the game ranked last in the LSC in assists at 5.8 per game, the Rattlers shared the ball well, posting 13 assists.