After a dramatic end to their regular season last weekend, the Lady Buffs traveled to Allen, Texas as the No. 2 seed in the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament.
In a quarterfinal game that seemed like déjà vu to the team, WTAMU faced Texas Woman’s University, the team that handed them a first round loss in the tournament last year. The Lady Buffs were determined not to let history be repeated as they opened up the scoring with a basket from Devin Griffin.
The team spent the half swapping leads with both teams having at least one run in the period. It would be the Pioneers that would win the first half battle as they took a one-point lead into the locker room at the break.
WT returned to the floor full of fire as they scored the first five points of the half, taking a 36-32 lead but TWU would steal back the momentum to tie the game 2 minutes and 30 seconds in. The teams stayed within five points for most of the half before WT went on a 10-0 run to grab a 60-49 lead with 4:13 left.
The Pioneers made one final run, getting within eight of WT at the 2:08 mark. However, in the final minutes, the Lady Buffs only let TWU come within 12 points, ending the game with a score of 72-60.The quarterfinal win matched WT up with Incarnate Word for the semifinal on Saturday. WT brought a 10 game winning streak into the game, which had begun with a 67-60 win over UIW on Jan. 26.
Senior Ashley Leven opened up the scoring with a lay-up but UIW went on a 4-0 run to get the lead. In the first half, WT only had the lead twice but tied the game multiple times in the first ten minutes. The Cardinals controlled the lead for the rest of the half, taking a 43-28 lead into the locker room. The 15-point deficit would be the largest deficit for the Lady Buffs all season.
The Lady Buffs attempted to make a comeback, going on a 13-3 run early in the second half and slowly working themselves within five points with 7:40 left. WT continued to fight, trying to eat into the lead in the final minutes. The team came within one point with 2.2 seconds left but a WT foul enabled UIW to win by two with a score of 73-71.
The team’s three seniors, Joni Unruh, Ashley Leven, and Aly Sherman all earned a team-high 14 points in the game with Sherman coming within one point of tying her career high. Unruh had another record night, playing in her 128th game as a Lady Buff to move into a tie for first in all-time school history. In addition, she recorded six assists to move into fifth-place on the school’s all-time list with 319 career steals. Ashley Leven also made a move in the school’s record books with 124 games played as a Lady Buff, tying her for fifth-place all time.
The Lady Buffs came into the tournament ranked No. 8 in the South Central Region and have earned a berth to the South Central Regional Tournament. WT will be taking on No. 1 Washburn on March 9 at 6 p.m. in Topeka, Kansas.
“[Washburn] has always been a great program,” Head Coach Krista Gerlich said. “I’ve only had to play them once in my first trip to the regional tournament. They are going to be very fundamentally sound and very disciplined. They don’t play a lot of kids, which I think is a good thing for us and their numbers look a lot like ours. I’m excited about the matchup.”
