No. 8 Lions win record 12th straight game, Burton reaches 100 career wins.

COMMERCE­— The No. 8 Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s basketball team defeated Cameron 77-55 on Thursday evening. The game was close until the fourth quarter when the Lions pulled away. 

The win brings the Lions to 12-0 on the season and 6-0 in the Lone Star Conference. The victory is the Lions’ 12th in a row, which sets a program record for most consecutive wins. The win was also the 100th in head coach Jason Burton‘s Lion career. The Aggies fall to 3-8 on the year and 2-3 in conference play. 

The Lions return to the court on Saturday as they host Midwestern State starting at 2:00 pm at the Field House in Commerce. The Lion men against MSU Texas at 4:00 pm follows. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

– The win is the Lions’ 12th in a row, which sets a new program record. The 2006-07 team established the previous record of 11 wins in a row.

– The victory was also the 100th win for head coach Jason Burton. He becomes the third coach in program history to reach 100 wins, and the fastest coach to reach that mark.

– Chania Wright (DeSoto) led the team with 25 points, which set a new career-high. She hit 11 field goals in the game, which also is a career-high.

– Alexis Bryant (Pflugerville) had 13 points and a career-high 19 rebounds.

– Dyani Robinson (Cypress – Langham Creek) also reached double figures with 13 points.

– The Lions had 25 offensive rebounds in the game, leading them to 17 second-chance points. 

HEAD COACH JASON BURTON AFTER THE GAME

– On the play from Alexis Bryant: “She played huge. In the second half, they switched to man-to-man, and she went to work. In the whole game, she guarded guards, and she did a heck of a job rebounding the ball. Nineteen rebounds is an impressive number.”

– On the play of Chania Wright: “You can see the evolution of her game. Last year, she was strictly a three-point shooter. But the way teams are closing out on her now; she is taking the mid-range. She is getting to the basket a lot more now. She has shown that she can score from anywhere.”

– On getting a bunch of second-chance shots: “Getting those offensive rebounds and those second-chance points, that’s the difference in the game. When you can win the turnover margin and get offensive rebounds, that helps you win games no matter how you are shooting.” 

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Lions started hot, scoring the first five points of the game. The Lions built an early 9-2 lead with some strong defensive effort. The Aggies cut the Lion lead to four points before the Lions again went on a run, as Juliana Louis (Long Beach, Calif.) hit a three-point play to give A&M-Commerce a nine-point lead. The Lions led 18-11 into the quarter break. 

The second half was back and forth, as the Lion lead hovered between six and nine for much of the period. The Lions were able to push their lead to double figures at the three-minute mark on a three from Wright. At halftime, the Lions held a 34-25 lead. 

The Lions pushed their lead to 12 early in the third before the Aggies went on a run, scoring seven unanswered to pull within five. After the Lions brought the score back to a double-figure lead, the Aggies went on a late run. The Lions led 50-44, heading into the final period. 

The Lions began to pull away early in the fourth quarter, as A&M-Commerce started to hit more of its free throw attempts and also had a hot streak from the field. Leading by ten midway through the quarter, the Lions went on a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to push their lead to 20. The final score was the Lions’ largest lead of the night.