The No. 7 Lions drop pair to No. 3 Augustana and St. Mary’s

COMMERCE – The No. 7 Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team found itself on the wrong end of two games in the Irwin Classic Saturday, losing to No. 3 Augustana, 6-1, and St. Mary’s, 10-4. 

The Lions are now 4-4 overall on the season and host No. 18 Rogers State for a doubleheader at 3:00 pm Tuesday.

HEAD COACH RICHIE BRUISTER AFTER THE GAMES 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (AUGUSTANA)

– Uxua Modrego (Burlada, Spain) went 2-for-3 and drove in the Lions’ only run. Kuea Angilau (Salt Lake City, Utah) also had a hit.

– Alyssa LeBlanc (Katy) allowed four earned runs in 3.0 innings, striking out three and falling to 4-1 on the year. Emily Otto (Lamar Consolidated) struck out three and allowed two runs in 4.0 innings. 

HOW IT HAPPENED (AUGUSTANA)

The Lions had the game’s first chance, loading the bases on walks in the first inning but stranding those bags full with a pair of strikeouts. 

The Vikings hit two solo homers in the second, brought home a pair with a two-out, two-run single in the third, and wrapped up their scoring on a two-run triple in the fourth. 

A&M-Commerce scratched a run across in the fifth after LeBlanc walked, pinch-runner Da’Jia Davis went to third after a pair of wild pitches, and Modrego drove the ball up the middle to plate her. 

The Lions were able to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh, but a hard-hit fielders’ choice got the lead runner to end the game. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (ST. MARY’S)

– Six Lions earned a base hit apiece, with Modrego and Serina Aguilar (Spring – Woods) hitting doubles. Aguilar had two RBIs.

– LeBlanc was tagged with the loss, allowing five runs on eight hits in 6.0 innings, with 11 strikeouts.

– The Lions led twice in the game, but StMU scored the game’s final eight runs. 

HOW IT HAPPENED (ST. MARY’S)

Heads-up baserunning by Davis in the second inning gave the Lions an early 1-0 lead. Davis replaced Aguilar after a walk, and Modrego’s single to the right put runners on first and second. A fielders’ choice up the middle caught the Rattler infield unaware, and Davis scampered home from second for a 1-0 lead. 

The Rattlers took a 2-1 lead with a solo homer in the fourth and an RBI single in the fifth, but LeBlanc worked her way out of a jam, stranding two StMU runners in scoring position. 

Madison Schaefer (Frisco – Independence) hit a one-out single, and Angilau walked in the bottom of the fifth. LeBlanc brought one run home with a double to left-center, followed by Aguilar’s two-run double to the same gap, making it a 4-2 game. 

The Rattlers tied the game up promptly with a two-run homer in the top of the sixth. They cut off the Lions’ chance at a go-ahead run in the bottom of the frame at home plate on a fielders’ choice. 

With the game tied to the final frame, the first three Rattlers reached base, with a Reba Reyes single scoring the go-ahead run. St. Mary’s was able to use momentum and pile up five more runs to push their advantage to 10-4. Aguilar walked with two out in the seventh, but the Lions could not stage a real rally.

Lions tripped up at Cameron, 69-62

LAWTON, Okla. – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men’s basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 69-62 loss at Cameron University on Saturday evening. 

The Lions’ season will end at 7-7 overall after missing out on the Lone Star Conference Championship. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

– The Lions shot 39.2 percent (20-of-51) from the floor but made only 5-of-27 (18.5 percent) of their three-pointers. Cameron shot 37.7 percent (23-of-61) from the floor with 12-of-33 made threes.

– Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) led the Lions with 23 points and nine rebounds.

– Augustine Ene (Carrollton – Creekview) scored 13 points with seven rebounds. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

The two teams were unable to pull away from one another in a low-scoring first half. The Lions led 7-3 early after an Ene three-pointer, but the Aggies erased that with a 10-1 run. JJ Romer Rosario (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) and Demonia combined for a 7-0 run to give the Lions a 15-13 lead with 6:55 to go. The Lions could not connect on a field goal for the next six minutes, though, falling behind by seven points. 

Leo Lara (Santa Rosa) broke the skid with a three-pointer, and the Lions closed the half on a 6-0 run to cut the Cameron lead to 24-23 at the break. The two teams combined for 15 field goals in half. 

In the opening five minutes of the second half, Demonia scored four, Ene scored five, and Rodney Brown (Beaumont – West Brook) added two, giving the Lions a 34-33 lead at the 14:49 mark. From there, the Lions missed nine straight field goal attempts, scoring only on nine free throws in eight minutes. By then, the Aggies had taken a 57-43 lead with seven minutes to play. 

Carson Tuttle (Mukilteo, Wash.) hit a three-pointer to end the poor shooting run, and the Lions went on a 13-3 rally, cutting the lead to 60-56 with just over two minutes to go. Cameron found its shooting stroke again, though, closing on a 9-6 run to take the win.

Lions earn No. 2 seed in LSC Women’s Basketball Championship and North Division Championship.

COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s basketball team won the Lone Star Conference North Division championship and is the No. 2 seed in next week’s LSC Women’s Basketball Championship tournament. 

The Lions will host the No. 7 seed Oklahoma Christian Eagles in a quarterfinal game at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, March 2. Tickets for the game will be available for pre-sale only at www.WeAreLionsTix.com. No tickets will be available at the gate. 

Lubbock Christian earned the No. 1 seed with a 4.308 rating in the conference rankings. A&M-Commerce secured the No. 2 seed with a rating of 3.962, followed by West Texas A&M (3.667) as the No. 3 seed and Cameron (3.625) in the No. 4 seed. Midwestern State (3.618) is the No. 5 seed, followed by No. 6 Texas A&M International (3.538), No. 7 Oklahoma Christian (3.514), and No. 8 St. Mary’s (2.929). 

All seven tournament games will be broadcast exclusively on the LSC Digital Network at www.lonestarconferencenetwork.com or on the LSC Digital Network OTT app. Fans will be able to purchase an LSC Basketball Championship Day Pass for $10 that will provide access to all men’s and women’s basketball tournament games for 24 hours starting from the time of purchase.

The winner of the tournament will be named the Lone Star Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament Champion. They earn the league’s automatic qualification to the 2021 NCAA Division II South Central Regional held March 12-13-15 in Canyon, Texas. West Texas A&M is the host. The South Central Region winner will advance to the Elite Eight to be held March 23-24-26 in Columbus, Ohio.

Here’s a look at the schedule for next week’s women’s tournament: 

2021 Lone Star Conference Women’s Basketball Championship

Tuesday, March 2, 2021 (on-campus)

QUARTERFINALS

Game 1: No. 8 St. Mary’s at No. 1 Lubbock Christian (Lubbock, Texas)

Game 2: No. 7 Oklahoma Christian at No. 2 Texas A&M-Commerce (Commerce, Texas)

Game 3: No. 6 Texas A&M International at No. 3 West Texas A&M (Canyon, Texas)

Game 4: No. 5 Midwestern State at No. 4 Cameron (Lawton, Okla.) 

Friday, March 5, 2021 (at highest remaining seed)

SEMIFINALS

Game 5: 4:00 pm, Winner 2-7 vs. Winner 3-6

Game 6: 7:30 pm, Winner 1-8 vs. Winner 4-5 

Saturday, March 6, 2021 (at the same site as the semifinals)

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Game 7: 3:00 pm, Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6

The No. 7 Lions earn a split on the first day of Irwin Classic with a win over No. 3 Augustana

COMMERCE – The No. 7 Texas A&M University-Commerce split two games in the Irwin Classic on Saturday after two weeks away from the action. 

The Lions earned a 2-1 win over No. 3 Augustana in eight innings in the opener before falling to St. Mary’s, 6-1, in the second game. 

HEAD COACH RICHIE BRUISTER AFTER THE GAMES 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (Augustana)

– Alyssa LeBlanc (Katy) earned the win in the pitching circle, moving to 4-0 on the season. She allowed one earned run in 8.0 innings pitched, allowing only two hits while striking out 12 and walking four.

– Uxua Modrego (Burlada, Spain) launched her first home run of the season.

– Madison Schaefer (Frisco – Independence) went 3-for-4 with a double.

– The Lions picked up seven hits to take down the defending national champions. 

HOW IT HAPPENED (Augustana)

The Lions challenged the Vikings early, stranding runners in scoring position in the first three innings. Augustana took the lead in the fourth inning when Torri Chute hit a leadoff home run to give the guests a 1-0 lead and tag LeBlanc with her first run conceded of the season. LeBlanc went 17.0 innings before conceding a run to start the season. 

Modrego tied the game up for the Lions in the bottom of the fourth. After Avery Boley (Fort Worth – Nolan Catholic) led off with a single and doubled off on the next batter, Modrego showed clutch two-out hitting to knot the contest up. 

LeBlanc allowed only one baserunner in the final three innings of regulation and was also perfect in the eighth. Schaefer led off the bottom of the eighth with a double off the left-field wall, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored the game-winning run on a single up the middle by Kinsie Hebler (Cy-Fair). 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (St. Mary’s)

– The Lions were limited to two hits with Chealsea Slider (Texarkana – Texas), and Ta’Lyn Moody (Mansfield – Legacy) earned singles.

– Emily Otto (Lamar Consolidated) was tagged with the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season allowing six runs – three earned – while striking out four and walking four. 

HOW IT HAPPENED (St. Mary’s)

The Rattlers took the lead in the first inning on three singles. Abigale Carney snuck a single down the right-field line to give the guests a 1-0 lead. A solo homer down the left-field line by StMU’s Tiffany Licon extended that lead to 2-0 in the top of the fourth, and a Reba Reyes round-tripper into center made it 3-0. 

The Lions got into the lead in the bottom of the fifth after Slider singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After pinch-runner Da’Jia Davis (Waco Midway) went to third on a groundout, she scored when LeBlanc reached by an error, narrowing the deficit to 3-1. 

Unfortunately for A&M-Commerce, a pair of walks and a hit batter loaded the bases. A couple of errors allowed three unearned runs to score. The Lions could only earn one baserunner in the final two innings, allowing St. Mary’s to take the

 

Lions wrap up the regular season at Cameron Saturday.

COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men’s basketball team heads north of the Red River on Saturday, wrapping up the 2020-21 regular season with a Cameron University road contest. 

WHO: A&M-Commerce at Cameron

WHERE: Lawton, Okla. | Aggie Gym

WHEN: 4:30 pm on Saturday, February 27

RECORDS: A&M-Commerce is 7-6 overall and in the Lone Star Conference. Cameron is 1-15 overall and in the LSC.

RANKINGS: Neither team is ranked.

TELEVISION/LIVE VIDEO: Lone Star Conference Digital Network (Direct Link)

RADIO: Lion Sports Network | KETR-FM 88.9 (Streaming on KETR.org)

LIVE STATS: Click HERE 

LIONS WRAP UP REGULAR SEASON IN LAWTON

• The Lions play the last of four games in six days, traveling to Cameron for the final regular-season game of 2020-21.

• The Lions took down the Aggies by an 81-68 count in the Field House on Thursday.

• The Lions connected on 55.2 percent (32-of-59) of their shots from the floor, including a sparkling second half where they made 17-of-29 (58.6 percent) of their field goals and 54.5 percent (6-of-11) of their three-pointers.

• JJ Romer Rosario led the Lions with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting. He was 3-for-3 on three-pointers and added five rebounds.

• Augustine Ene scored 15 points with four rebounds and four assists, going 6-of-7 from the floor.

• Rodney Brown and Demarcus Demonia scored 10 points, with Brown leading the team with eight boards.

• Carson Tuttle passed out nine assists.

• The Lions committed only seven personal fouls in the game and had a 41-31 rebounding edge. 

PERIMETER EXCELLENCE

• The Lions have been fantastic in limiting their opposition from converting on three-point attempts, ranking first in the LSC and fourth nationally with an opponents’ three-point percentage of 29.0.

• A&M-Commerce has allowed the lowest three-point percentage of any team in the nation which has played double-digit games.

• This has helped the Lions to rank fourth in the league in scoring defense, as TAMUC allows 73.0 points per game. Since the first game of the season, no team has scored more than 80 points on the Lions.

OPPONENT THREE-POINT FG% – DII 

Rk	School	Rec	3FGM-A	Pct
1	Barry	2-0	9-45	20.0
2	Lincoln (Pa.)	3-0	27-108	25.0
3	Albany St.	2-5	42-145	29.0
4	A&M-Commerce	7-6	76-262	29.0
5	Nyack	4-4	60-206	29.1
6	Felician	5-4	56-192	29.2
7	Southern Wesleyan	9-4	93-316	29.4
8	Tex. A&M-Kingsville	13-2	90-305	29.5
9	Gannon	9-2	87-294	29.6
10	Saint Leo	2-1	19-64	29.7

CHARITY STRIPE PERFECTION
• The Lions were perfect at the free-throw line in the UT Tyler game on Jan. 23, going 16-of-16 from the charity stripe to establish a school record for made free throws without a miss.
• The previous record of 14-of-14 was set on February 16, 1970, in a 66-64 loss at Sul Ross State.
• This is the third overall perfect free throw night on record, including a 3-for-3 night vs. Angelo State on February 1, 2020.
• This is one of nine games in Division II this season with a perfect conversion rate and 15 or more attempts.

AUG HEATING UP!
• Senior forward Augustine Ene has been the Lions’ top offensive threat since the weather break, tying or setting his career scoring high in each game.
• At OC, he had 21 points and nine rebounds, tying his career scoring high, while going 10-of-10 at the charity stripe.
• At Angelo, he set his career scoring high with 22 points, also adding four boards and going 8-of-9 at the stripe.
• His .868 free throw percentage ranks fifth in the conference and his 14.4 points per game rank 15th in the league.

ALL-TIME vs. CAMERON
• This is the 60th all-time meeting between the Lions and Aggies, with the Lions holding a 35-24 lead in the all-time series.
• The Lions are 15-12 all-time in Aggie Gym.
• Jaret von Rosenberg is 5-2 all-time against the Aggies.

LOOKING AT LION HISTORY
• This is the 30th time the Lions have played on February 27, with a 14-15 record.
• These two teams have met twice on this date, with the Aggies winning a 93-91 overtime game in Commerce in 2008 and the Lions winning in Lawton in 2010, 74-68.
• Coach Rose is 1-0 on this date with a 69-55 win at Oklahoma Christian last season.
• The Lions are 8-6 in road games on this date.
• This is also the 90th anniversary of the Lions’ first-ever postseason win, as the East Texas Teachers defeated the West Texas Teachers, 35-31, in Commerce in the second game of a three-game series for the TIAA Championship. WT would eventually take the third game.

CAREER PERCENTAGE LEADERS
• Head coach Jaret von Rosenberg is ranked third in school history in career winning percentage.

Rk	Coach	W	Record
1.	Bob Rogers	.769	113-34
2.	Will Hill Acker	.708	46-19
3.	Jaret von Rosenberg	.664	71-36
4.	Darrell Tully	.621	59-36
5.	Dennis Vinzant	.605	92-60
6.	Sam Walker	.585	285-202
7.	Norman Pilgrim	.547	152-126
8.	Paul Peak	.532	134-118
9.	Jim Gudger	.515	202-190
10.	Jerry Matthews	.440	99-126