Over the past few seasons, if there has been one certainty it’s that when the WTAMU Lady Buff basketball team heads to the LSC tournament in Bartlesville, Okla., good things always happen. In the past three seasons, the Lady Buffs have made Bruin Fieldhouse their second home winning three straight championships. They looked to continue that streak in the first round against Texas Women’s on March 2.
Unfortunately, this season there will be a new conference champion. WT held a slim lead late in the contest, but wasn’t able to hold on as the Lady Buffs fell 57-56.
Things got off to a slow start for the Lady Buffs on the night. Their biggest lead of the first half came at 11-8 with 15:32 remaining before halftime. TWU responded with an 8-0 run which gave them a 16-11 lead at the 10:56 mark of the first half. WT tried to fight back but they couldn’t get any closer than three points in the first half as the Pioneers raced out to lead by as many as seven points. The Lady Buffs went into the locker room down 30-26.
After the break TWU kept up the offensive pressure and increased their lead to 34-26 at the 17:24 mark of the second half. WT managed to claw their way back to within three points at 37-34 with 13 minutes left in regulation. Moments later, the lead was cut to one point with 11:35 left in the contest. It looked as though the tide was turning for the better when WT took the lead at 42-41 with 8:27 left in the half. However, TWU responded and reclaimed the lead and kept it for most of the remainder of the half. WT took the lead for the last time with 40 seconds left before the Pioneers took it back at 57-56. The Lady Buffs had one last chance to pull out the victory but it wasn’t meant to be on this night as Texas Women’s claimed an upset victory at 57-56.
Leading the scoring on the night for the Lady Buffs was junior Jamie Simmons with 16 points and 12 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season. Junior Aly Sherman scored 10 points on the evening with freshman Casey Land and senior Megan McLain both chipping in nine points in the contest.
WT finishes the regular season at 17-11. The Lady Buffs will now await word from the NCAA to see if they make the regional tournament field for next week’s regional tournament. The official announcement will come on March 6 at 8:30 p.m.
