LAWTON – The six-seed Aggie women's basketball team survived a back-and-forth thriller against the 11-seed Eastern New Mexico on Tuesday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament.
Cameron earned a chance to host the first-round matchup against the Greyhounds by going 11-5 in conference play this season. The two teams did not disappoint the Aggie Gym crowd as there were 24 lead changes and six ties in the 88-85 Aggie win.
The Greyhounds showed up ready to play and scored 26 in the opening quarter led by 10 points from Bella Stone. ENMU was 5-6 from the foul line in the opening quarter while Cameron tried to rely on the three ball, but were just 2-9 in the frame, scoring 18 points to trail by eight after one.
CU picked up the defense in the second, holding the Greyhounds to just six made field goals and 14 points. On the other end of the floor, the home team shot over 61 percent from the field and scored 23 led by eight points from
Katie King. The Black and Gold held a one-point advantage at the half, 41-40.
King and
Maighan Hedge both had 10 points for Cameron in the first 20 minutes of play while CU shot 52 percent from the field but missed five free throws in the half. Stone led ENMU with 11 points at the break with Iyanna McCurdy adding 10.
The Aggies made a third-quarter run that saw their lead extend to 11 points after a Hedge three-pointer with 4:14 left in the period. Eastern was able to cut that lead to six with under 40 seconds to go in the quarter, but a
Korie Allensworth three in the final seconds put CU up 66-60 going into the fourth.
In the fourth, the Greyhounds kept feeding the paint with Meme Amand scoring 10 points in the frame. That helped them come back and take back the lead with 8:11 to play. That was one of six lead changes in the quarter. After ENMU took back the lead with five minutes to play, CU answered with back-to-back three-pointers by
Kassie Boorer and
Whitney Outon putting them up 79-74 with 3:56 left on the clock.
The Greyhounds answered the two triples with one of their own from McCurdy, but Outon responded with another to put the Aggies back up five. Stone scored three straight points to cut the lead to two. Boorer and Amand traded buckets and then a pair of free throws by King with 28 seconds left put the Aggies back up by four, but Natalie Stice answered with a three-ball to pull back to within one, 86-85 with 21 ticks on the scoreboard.
In the next possession, Hedge was fouled on the inbound to send the program's all-time leading scorer and the LSC's best free throw shooter to the foul line. Hedge knocked down both shots with 16 seconds left to play. Cameron then trapped Stice in the far corner, forcing a desperation three-pointer that missed long with Outon securing the rebound and the Aggie win.
Hedge led the Black and Gold with 22 points on 8-12 shooting from the field.
Stephanie Peterson added 17 points and five rebounds while King had 14 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, and Outon had 14 points, nine rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. Additionally, Boorer had 10 points off the bench, making it her third straight game with over 10 points.
As a team, Cameron shot 53 percent from the field, was 12-28 from three and 14-21 from the charity stripe. They were out-rebounded 39-35 and turned the ball over 19 times, resulting in 17 points for the Greyhounds.
Amand finished with a game-high 23 points and 12 rebounds for ENMU while McCurdy added 20 points, Stice had 17, and Stone finished with 16 points.
With their third all-time win in the conference tournament Cameron advances to face the 3-seed Texas A&M-Commerce, who is also ranked in the top-10 in the nation, on Friday, March 4, at noon in the LSC Tournament Quarterfinals. The remaining games in the tournament will be played at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
