Coaches Corner

Colton Harada • February 1, 2011

Krista Gerlich, WTAMU Women’s Basketball Coach

One of the biggest trends that’s been associated with WTAMU Lady Buff basketball over the past few years is the way the team responds after being dealt a defeat. Many experts expected this trend to continue when the Lady Buffs visited Midwestern State on Jan. 29 at the D.L. Ligon Coliseum in Wichita Falls.

MSU made sure that the experts were proven wrong as they came away with a surprising 62-57 victory over the Lady Buffs. The win breaks a 13-game losing streak for the Lady Mustangs against the Lady Buffs.

In the first half, WT came out swinging and raced out to an early 11-4 lead at the 16:03 mark of the first half. However, MSU fought their way back and cut the lead to one point at the 9:31 mark of the first half. Try as they might, the Lady Buffs just couldn’t pull away from the Lady Mustangs in the first half. MSU took their first lead of the contest at the 1:42 mark before halftime at 19-17. Going into the locker room for halftime, the Lady Buffs found themselves trailing 24-20.

The second half didn’t start out well for the Lady Buffs. At the 14:57 mark WT found themselves trailing 36-25. WT fought all the way back and got within two points at 43-41 with 8:06 left in regulation. However, this night belonged to the Lady Mustangs as they held off the Lady Buffs and came away with a 62-57 victory.

Leading the scoring on the night for the Lady Buffs was junior Jamie Simmons with 16 points followed by freshman Ariel Robertson with 12 points. Junior Aly Sherman scored 10 points on the night.

The Lady Buffs overall record now stands at 11-8 with a 4-2 record in LSC play. Midwestern improves to 6-12 overall and 2-4 in conference play. WT prepares for a contest with the Texas A&M Kingsville Hoggies on the road Feb. 2. Tip-off from the Steinke Center is scheduled for 6 p.m.

“We lost our preseason conference play of the year early in the season,” Gerlich said. “We’ve played a really, really tough schedule, probably the toughest in the nation, but I think we’ve done really well and each game we get a litttle bit better. That’s what it’s all about .”