A&M-Commerce (5-5) ended its losing streak in emphatic fashion on Monday night, breaking the 100 point plateau for only the sixth time in school history and scoring the third-highest point total in school history in a 104-73 drubbing of Arlington Baptist (6-4).
The Lions had four players reach double-digits, out-rebounded the Patriots 54-31, had less than half of Arlington Baptist's turnovers (27 for ABC, 13 for A&M-Commerce) and nearly doubled up in steals (15 to 8) in a game that the Lions won in nearly all phases.
“I'm really proud of how out women responded to a tough road loss to MSU tonight,” said head coach Jason Burton, “I challenged them to take care of the ball, rebound, and force turnovers with our defense, and they responded well. This was a good team win.”
Coach Burton's squad only narrowly missed the single-game scoring record. The only two times in school history that the Lion women outscored Monday's output -once in 1997-98 against Chico State and again in 1990-91 against Missouri St. Louis- the Lions scored 106 points, only two more than the 104 point explosion against the Patriots. It is the first time A&M-Commerce has surpassed 100 points since 2008-09, when they defeated A&M-Kingsville 101-75.
Princess Davis hit the 20 point-milestone for the second time in her career in a dominant effort, adding six assists, five rebounds and two steals. Fellow guard Ashlee Johnson stuffed the stat sheet in her own right, chipping in 16 points five assists, four rebounds and a steal while also finding extreme efficiency in all phases of shooting (6 of 8 from the field, 2 of 4 from deep, 2 of 2 from the line). Forward La'TishaHearne, who found herself in early foul trouble, finished a quiet game by her standards with nine points and six boards to go with two assists and two steals in only 19 minutes of action.
A&M-Commerce received a strong boost from their bench. For the the fourth time this year, senior Abigail Leaupepe-Tele logged double-digit scoring while only playing 17 minutes or less as she scored 14 and nearly pulled off a double-double with eight rebounds. The forward also added a season-high three assists and two steals. ZenobiaWinbush played one of her best games as a Lion, scoring 10 first-half points en route to a 14 point performance. Artaejah Gay flirted with a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds in only 16 minutes of action.
Early on, the Lions established and maintained a comfortable lead. Winbush's aforementioned 10 points led all Lions, while Johnson was perfect from the field with three of three shooting (2 of 2 from deep). With a 28-12 rebounding advantage, the one blight was that the Lions failed to produce -or barely even appear- at the free throw line in the first half, shooting a paltry 0 of 1 compared to the Patriots' 13 of 16. At half, the Lions led 48-36, and in the second half, they'd rectify their free throw shooting by getting to the line 18 times, converting 15 attempts.
The Patriots, who have now dropped three in a row after starting the season 6-1, got quality games out of forward Morgan Hale and center Rosalyn Thorpe. Hale led all scorers with 23 points, to which she added eight rebounds, while the six-foot-five Thorpe scored 20 points and four blocks on highly efficient shooting (8 of 13 from the field). Additionally, guard Shanice Hill did a little of everything with seven points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals, though she was marred by eight turnovers. They'll get three days off before a Friday matchup with Oklahoma Wesleyan.
A&M-Commerce meanwhile finds itself in a position to move above .500 to 6-5 if they win their next game, which would be the school's best 11-game start to a season since the 2008-09 campaign. That attempt will come on the road against the winless A&M-Kingsville Javelinas (0-10) on Thursday, January 8 at 5:30 p.m. in the Gil H. Steinke Physical Education Center.