It was a rematch when the WTAMU Lady Buffs took on Texas A&M Kingsville on Feb. 5 at the First United Bank Center in Canyon. The match-up marked the second time in a week that these teams had met up with WT taking the first meeting 84-44 in Kingsville the first time around.
TAMUK put up more of a fight this time, but it wasn’t enough as the Lady Buffs got their second straight victory 72-51.
“The situation is really difficult playing someone back-to-back especially when you blow them out the first time,” head coach, Krista Gerlich, said. “We talked before the game about them (Kingsville) having nothing to lose. I wasn’t concerned in the first half because I felt like we were matching them.”
Kingsville wasted little time in taking a quick 3-0 lead at the 19:16 mark of the first half. WT took its first lead of the game at the 18:50 mark at 4-3. TAMUK then went on a 12-2 run to take a 15-6 lead at the 15:34 mark. The Lady Buffs kept battling, but it seemed like Kingsville had an answer at every turn. With 11:22 left before halftime Kingsville held a 20-12 lead. WT finally regained the lead at the 6:15 mark when it was 23-22. Both teams battled throughout the rest of the half as the Lady Buffs went into the locker room holding a 33-30 lead.
After the break, the Lady Buffs came out on fire going on a 7-0 run to start the half. With 17:46 left in regulation it was 40-30 WT. Kingsville couldn’t get closer than nine points in the second half. A huge part of why the Lady Buffs were able to jump out to a huge lead was freshman Lacee Logan hitting some clutch three-pointers.
“When I catch it and I’m open then I make them pay for it,” Logan said. “It’s just apart of my game. After we beat them (Kingsville) by 40 the first time then we knew we had to be ready to play because they weren’t going to lay down for us.”
The Lady Buffs led by as many as 25 points in the second half as they strolled to a 72-51 victory over Kingsville.
Leading the scoring on the night for the Lady Buffs was junior Jamie Simmons who recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman Lacee Logan was close behind with 13 points on the night. Fellow Freshman Ariel Robertson scored nine points and recorded 12 rebounds.
“Coach Gerlich kept me motivated out there,” Simmons said. “I could feel that the defense wasn’t as strong as it was before and she was able to see that out there and help me get those points.”
With the victory, head coach Krista Gerlich earned her 125th victory at the helm of the Lady Buffs. She is the fastest coach in Lady Buff basketball history to reach 125 wins.
The Lady Buffs overall record now stands at 13-8 overall with a 6-2 record in LSC play. Kingsville falls to 3-17 overall and 1-7 in LSC play. WT will now prepare for its rescheduled match-up against Abilene Christian on Feb. 9. Tip-off from Moody Coliseum is set for 5:30 p.m.
