Lion Football falls 22-14 in the season finale against Tennessee State.

COMMERCE – A last-second try to tie the game came up just short for the Texas A&M University-Commerce football team, who was downed 22-14 by the Tennessee State Tigers on Saturday inside Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium in the season finale for both teams. 

A&M-Commerce ends its first Division I season with a record of 5-6 overall and 3-3 in its first conference season in the Southland Conference, tying for fourth place. They picked the Lions to finish sixth in the Southland in the preseason poll. Tennessee State ends 2022 with a record of 4-7. 

SENIOR DAY

Before the game, the Lions honored their 19 seniors with a special ceremony. The following seniors honored can be found below.

Senior	Hometown
BJ Busbee	Long Beach, Calif.
Rehoboth Chibesa	Little Elm, Texas
Celestin Haba	Columbia, S.C.
Ben Hutch	Old Hickory, Tenn.
Treveon Johnson	Brenham, Texas
Michael Keating	Bellaire, Texas
Jo-Bentley Keilani	Tacoma, Wash.
Prince Lollar	Seattle, Wash.
Jaiave Magalei	Tacoma, Wash.
Hunter Miller	Bushland, Texas
Xavier Morris	Converse, Texas
Solomon Ndukwe	Alief, Texas
Michael Noble	Orange, Calif.
D’Ante Smith	Richardson, Texas
J.T. Smith	Klein, Texas
Kenedy Snell	Waxahachie, Texas
Dee Walker	Moultrie, Ga.
Darius Williams	Fort Worth, Texas
Justice Williams	Detroit, Mich.

 

Photo – Trevor Fleeman

Lion Women’s Basketball falls at SMU.

DALLAS – The Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s basketball team ended its three-game road trip with an 86-57 loss to the SMU Mustangs at the Moody Coliseum on Friday night. 

The Lions did outscore the Mustangs in the fourth quarter but fell to 1-3 on the season. SMU improves to 2-2 on the year. The Lions return home next Saturday. 

SMU led 29-16 after the first quarter and took its most significant lead of 33 points in the third quarter at 76-43 with 22 seconds left. After that, A&M-Commerce lost the game. 

Laila Lawrence (Lewisville) had 12 points for the second game in a row. She shot 5-for-10 from the field, with two rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Dyani Robinson (Langham Creek) posted 11 points, five rebounds, two steals, and an assist, while Jada Hood (Roseville, Minn.) recorded 11 points, three rebounds, and a steal. 

Dorian Norris (Lake Dallas) added three points, six rebounds, and an assist off the bench. Olivia Russell (Auburn Hills, Mich.) had six points. 

For the Mustangs, Reagan Bradley posted 15 points, Tamia Jones had 13, and Ella Brow had 12. SMU outshot A&M-Commerce 58.1 percent to 32.3 percent from the field while knocking down 8 of their 17 three-point attempts. In addition, SMU had a 46-20 edge in points in the paint.

UP NEXT

The Lions are back home next Saturday at 2:00 pm against New Mexico.

Photo – Avi Mehta

The last-minute run gives Bulldogs a 72-64 win over the Lions.

ATLANTA – Friday night’s game in the GSU Convocation Center tied at 64 with 1:42 left. The UNC Asheville Bulldogs then went on an 8-0 run to win 72-64 over the Texas A&M University-Commerce men’s basketball team, who fought back from a deficit of 17 points. 

UNC Asheville had a 17-point lead in the first half and was up by 15 in the second half until a stretch of four minutes, where the Bulldogs were held scoreless, allowed the Lions to tie the game at 64. Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half and recorded a double-double with ten rebounds, one assist, and one steal. 

The Lions, who fall to 1-3 on the season, received 28 bench points, with C.J. Roberts (Irving – Richland) scoring 14 on 5 for 11 shooting and Jerome Brewer, Jr. (Camden, N.J.) scoring 12 points as well as seven rebounds, four blocks, and two assists. 

Friday was the first of three games this weekend for both teams in Atlanta as part of the Capitol Classic. 

Playing in his home state, Kalen Williams (Hephzibah, Ga.) scored eight points and four rebounds. Alonzo Dodd (St. Paul, Minn.) had six rebounds, three points, and three assists. 

The Bulldogs remained perfect with a record of 3-0 and were led in scoring by Drew Pember, who had 22 points, 12 rebounds, six blocks, two assists, and a steal. 

The Lions went on a 10-0 scoring run in the second half to tie the game at 64 and shot 44.4 percent from the field. All 12 of Roberts’ points and 18 points from Demonia came in the second half, in which the Lions outscored the Bulldogs 43-38. 

UP NEXT

The Lions continue the Capitol Classic on Saturday at 3:00 pm eastern standard time against the host, Georgia State. 

The lions’ season comes to a close in the Southland quarterfinals.

HAMMOND, La. – The 2022 season came to a close on Friday night for the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team, who were swept in the Southland Conference Tournament quarterfinals by the McNeese Cowgirls at the University Center via set scores of 25-15, 25-18, and 25-11. 

The Lions finish their first Division I season with an 11-23. The Cowgirls improve to 18-15 and advance to the semifinals to face No. 2 seeded Southeastern on Saturday. A&M-Commerce, under coach Craig Case, finished seventh during conference play. 

Neither team could pull away with a big run at the beginning and stay a few points away from the other. The Cowgirls secured a 5-1 run to pull five points ahead of the Lions, 14-9, and continued to hold the Lions and lead, 21-10. The Lions put up five more points before the Cowgirls walked away with a 25-15 set win. 

The Cowgirls took the first big run of the set for a 9-3 lead. After that, both teams traded points, with the Cowgirls holding the lead and the Lions coming within four, 18-22, before the Cowgirls secured the set win, 25-18. 

Both teams continued to trade short runs back and forth when a 9-1 run by the Cowgirls put them in the lead, 14-7. The Lions put five points on the board to chip away but stayed down 18-11. The Cowgirls put up the last seven points of the match to win, 25-11, and advance to the semifinals. 

Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) collected 26 assists, eight digs, and three blocks. Ashley Pennington (Frisco–Liberty) led the team with ten digs, followed by Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) with eight digs and one service ace. 

Maddy Rashford (Placentia, Calif.) put down nine kills with three digs, while Essence Allen (Longview–Tatum) collected six kills, three blocks, and seven digs. Yasmin Figueiredo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) led the team with four blocks and picked up five kills and three digs, with Taryn Cast (Peaster) also earning five kills along with two blocks. 

Friday night marked the final match in the Lion careers for Cast, Herbert, Kayla Lucas (Colorado, Springs, Colo.), Pennington, Rashford, and Vela.