ALLEN, Texas –
Jazzmine Robinson put up 29 points but cold shooting in the second half turned out to be Cameron's undoing falling to Texas A&M-Commerce 80-63 in the opening round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
The Aggies (15-11) who were the number-3 seed in the tournament bested the home-and-home series against the number-6 Lions (14-13) shot 21.9 percent in the final 20 minutes.
Despite the loss, Cameron's season could continue with some luck within the South Central Region, and hope for no upsets in the Heartland Conference and RMAC tournaments.
"I'd love have the opportunity to go to battle with this group one more time this season," said head coach
Tom Webb. "I'm really proud of this group, they battled throughout the season."
Robinson fell two points short of her career high which she set earlier this season against Truman State, she would also finish with a team high eight rebounds.Â
Charron Montgomery was the only other Aggie in double-figures with 11 points.Â
Brandi Leal, who averages over 13 points a game was limited to five, and she would go 1-8 from the arc.
"Commerce did a great defensive job," said Leal. "I don't think (our game) relies on our threes, it's the whole team so with or without me we can get a win."
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"At the same time (Commerce) hit some shots. I thought we have been really good all year at defensive transition and we got beat a couple times in defensive transitioning key moments and that hurt us."
Cameron would shoot 32.9 percent from the field and 23.3 from the downtown; A&M-Commerce went 44.3 percent from the field and 46.7 from downtown. The Lions controlled the rebounding battle with 51, which were 11 more than Cameron.
A&M-Commerce had four in double-figures with Princess Davis leading the Lions with 23 points. Â
The Aggies opened the contest with seven unanswered points but the Lions would regroup and catch Cameron in the final minutes of the half. Following a 0-4 run from the field, A&M-Commerce took a 36-33 lead with just under two minutes left,
Jade Herl put the Aggies back on the board with the team's third triple of the half to tie the game at 36 with a minute left, which is how both teams would leave for the locker room. Montgomery would lead CU in the first 20 minutes with 11 points.
The cat and mouse game continued into the second half and Cameron blinked first after a five minute scoring drought, A&M-Commerce went on a 16-0 run to take a controlling 67-53 advantage on the Aggies. Cameron could not recover from the Lion run and finished the contest 3-17 from the field.
An announcement of the NCAA Tournament field will be on Sunday night at 9 p.m. which can be viewed on NCAA.com.
