DENTON, Texas (Jan. 4, 2012) ¬¬— It may be a new year, but Cameron found a familiar result Wednesday night, as the Aggies ushered in 2012 with a 62-57 victory over conference foes Texas Woman’s University. The Black and Gold’s victory was the Pioneers first home defeat of the season.

The game was really a story of two halves, as Cameron (9-2, 6-1) hit the lockers at halftime trailing by nine. The Black and Gold would come out aggressive, however, in the second half and begin chipping away at the Pioneers’ lead.

“We knew they were a good basketball team,” said Head Coach Tom Webb. “Both teams had to compete tonight. And at their (TWU’s) place, they are really, really good. But the good thing about this group is, it believes in itself. They understand that anyone on the floor can score at any time. At the same time, defensively we are playing together. When that happens, you always have a chance (to win games).”

Senior Julie Paunovic scored eight of Cameron’s first 10 points in the second half to help the team pull to within two, at 41-39, with 15:10 remaining in the game. At the 14:07 mark, senior Nicole Pendarvis drove to the hole to tie the game at 62, all leading up to a huge rainmaker from junior Jordan Kauk to give the Aggies its first lead at 44-41, since a 5-3 score in the first half. From there, Cameron slowed the game and drained the clock, converting on a number of free throws to ice the game. As a team, the Aggies finished 14 of 15 for 93 percent from the charity stripe.

In the first half, Texas Woman’s (8-5, 3-4) came out firing from behind the arc, hitting eight treys, including a 4-4 stretch in the first three minutes of the game. Cameron made the most of its opportunities and was able to remain within striking distance, despite trailing by as many as 14. The Black and Gold would go on to score the final four points of the first half to set the table to its great road comeback.

“They (TWU) came out on fire (in the first half) … defensively, I probably had our kids thinking too much,” Webb said. “They (Webb’s team) did a great job in the second half of executing and playing man-to-man defense. We became more aggressive on the perimeter. Every shot was contested. We did a good job of switching some things. We (the coaching staff) are just real proud of this group.”

As a team, Cameron finished the game shooting 47 percent, while continuing its conference leading defense by holding TWU to 38 percent from the field. The team also shot 50 percent from three, finishing 6 of 12. Paunovic lead the Aggies offensively with 22 points on 7-11 shooting, including 3-4 from three and 5-5 on free throws. She also finished with a team-high eight rebounds. Pendarvis was also effective on the road, tallying 16 points on 5-7 shooting and 6-6 from the line. Senior Sabelle Diata was the only other Aggie in double figures with 10 points on 4-10 shooting. She was also perfect from the line, going 2-2.

The victory improves the Aggies conference record to 6-1, but the team remains in third place behind West Texas A&M (8-4, 6-0) and Tarleton State (8-5, 5-0), both undefeated in conference play. Despite a third place standing, Cameron does boast the best overall record in conference play at 9-2, and is currently riding a seven-game winning streak.

 The team will return to action at 2 p.m. Saturday taking on Oklahoma Wesleyan (6-10) in the Aggie Gym.