LAWTON - The Cameron University women's basketball team racked up a program-record 22 steals in a 72-66 overtime upset of No. 5/No. 8 West Texas A&M on Friday night.
Fresh off a huge upset win over Texas A&M-Commerce, in which the Aggies went on the road to beat the then-7th ranked Lions, CU would have another chance to dethrone a top-10 team. The Black and Gold welcomed in West Texas A&M as the Buffs came in ranked within the top-5.
After jumping out to an early lead, before the media timeout, Cameron switched to a full-court press, a defensive strategy that
Emma Andrews has deployed routinely throughout the second half of this season. Her squad has been able to execute the high-pressure defense to perfection.
At the media timeout in the first quarter, CU led by 3, behind
Maighan Hedge's hot start. Before 5-minutes passed, the Junior guard poured in a game-high seven points.
The Aggie defense held the Buffs to just ten points in the first frame, the lowest single-quarter mark of West Texas A&M's season. Coming into tonight, West Texas A&M was outscoring opponents 280-188.
The Buffs would not go quietly, taking a 21-19 lead into the 2nd quarter media timeout. The Aggies came roaring back and went ahead by 3 heading into the locker rooms behind a
Maighan Hedge iso triple.
The Black and Gold generated 16 first-half turnovers, which led to 18 first-half points for the Aggies. CU protected the ball well, only giving up the rock seven times.
The Aggies continued to play swarming defense in the second half which puzzled the 5th ranked Buffs. On top of the constant backcourt pressure, the Aggies began to switch everything in the half-court set allowing players to not be tied to an opponent and fill the passing lanes, which flustered the Buffs playmakers.
In the 4th quarter, the Aggies started to pull away from the top-ranked Buffs, at one point leading by ten in the frame. CU kept the Buffs at arm's length for the majority of the fourth quarter. With three minutes left in the contest, West Texas A&M got within 3.
With time on their side, after a few empty West Texas A&M possessions,
Stephanie Peterson did what she is so accustomed to doing, as she marched into the lane with a strong-finish off the glass to put CU up five with a minute to play.
The Aggie defense held Lexi Hightower, the leading scorer in the Lone Star Conference, scoreless in the first three quarters. In the fourth, Hightower poured in eight points along with the game-tying asset with 29.2 seconds left.
CU came away empty-handed with 5-seconds on the play clock, giving the Buffs the ball in a tied game,
Katie King stole the inbounds pass to send this game to overtime.
In overtime, the Aggies took the lead at the 2:26-mark thanks to
Logan Collyer stealing an inbounds pass and finding Hedge to finish the layup. The Aggies played smothering defense only allowing an opening-frame three in overtime, outscoring WT 9-3 in OT.
Altogether, the Aggies forced 34 WT turnovers, scoring 32-of-their-72 points off those Buff turnovers.
Hedge finished with a game-high 17-points, to go along with her team-high four assists.
Stephanie Peterson turned in 14-points, with three assists, but was huge defensively collected six steals.
Katie King swiped five steals, while
Jazmin Luster added four. Hedge and Collyer each had two takeaways in this game with a smattering of Aggies earning a single steal.
Up next, these two teams square off again Saturday, Feb. 20th in the Aggie gym.
Emma Andrews will have her team looking to earn their third straight win over a ranked foe. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m., and you can catch the action on the Lone Star Conference Network.
