COMMERCE, Texas – The Cameron women's basketball team hung with the top-10 ranked A&M-Commerce Lions for three quarters on Thursday night, but a cold shooting fourth quarter led to CU's first division loss, 77-55.

A&M-Commerce, who is one of the top defensive teams in the Lone Star Conference, put the clamps on the CU offense, that has averaged 80.3 points per game since the start of league play. The Aggies shot just 33.9 percent from the field with the one positive coming at the foul line, where they were 11-15. They were also just 2-17 from three-point range after making at least 13 treys in their last three outings.

Senior McKenna Spikes had her best game as an Aggie, scoring 14 points on 6-10 shooting from the field and 2-2 from the charity stripes. She also added five rebounds, which was one behind Maighan Hedge and Amaka Nwakamma, who both had six boards in the loss. Hedge added 13 points and five assists but was 0-5 from long range.  

The Lions got off to a hot start and jumped out to a 9-2 lead early in the first quarter. Cameron was just 5-15 from the field in the first 10 minutes of action, going 0-4 from deep, as they trailed 18-11 when the first period ended. Hedge had seven of CU's 11 points in the frame.

Spikes took over in the second quarter as she went 3-3 from the field to score six points. The senior forward had a team-best eight points in the first 20 minutes of play, while Cameron, who as a team shot 37.9 percent from the floor and went 1-9 from three in the half, was down nine to the ranked Lions, 34-25 at the break.

The Aggies came out in the third period and outscored A&M-C 19-16 to get to within six points of their divisional opponent heading into the fourth. Hedge and Spikes added four points each in the frame, with Nwakamma chipping in four points in the quarter as well. The Lions struggled in the frame, going 6-17 from the floor, but two of those were from deep while they added two free throws for their 16-point period.

In the fourth quarter, A&M-Commerce pulled away by outscoring the Black and Gold 26-11 with seven of their points coming from the charity stripe. On the other end of the court, CU was just 3-15 in the final 10 minutes, going 0-4 from three and 5-8 from the foul line.

The Lions had three players with double-digit scoring outings as the team secured their 12th straight win to start the 2019-20 season; Chania Wright led the way with 25 points, while Alexis Bryant added a 13-point, 19-rebound double-double.

Cameron, now 3-8 on the year and 2-3 against league opponents, will face a new opponent and their second division foe of the year in UT Tyler on Saturday, Jan. 4.