WTAMU Lady Buffs split home series with Texas Woman’s-UT Tyler

The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs put together a second half performance against No. 24 UT Tyler that head coach Josh Prock had been waiting to see for weeks.

Trailing 37-34 at halftime on Saturday, WTAMU played stellar basketball during the final 20 minutes that resulted in a dominating 73-54 victory at the First United Bank Center. The victory snaps the Patriots 16-game win streak and hands UT Tyler (18-4 overall, 12-1 LSC) its first loss in the Lone Star Conference.

Fortunately, the Lady Buffs (11-9 overall, 6-6 LSC) avoided a certain streak of their own happening in Canyon. Thanks to knocking off UT Tyler, WTAMU didn’t suffer its first four-game home losing streak in school history.

The Lady Buffs turned it up on both ends of the floor. It started with their physical play and able to rebound the basketball. In the first half, UT Tyler had outrebounded WTAMU 18-11, however, the second half was a different story with the Lady Buffs finishing the game with a 36-29 advantage.

Then there was the offensive production. A struggling unit of late saw Wellington graduate and sophomore guard Kyla Kane work her way out of a shooting funk by going 9-of-12 from the floor including 5-of-6 from downtown putting up a game-high 23 points against the Patriots. Teammate Nyalam Thabach did her part finishing with a double-double as the senior went 7-of-11 from the floor to score 18 points to go along with 14 rebounds.

The Lady Buffs finished the afternoon going 29-of-53 (54.7 percent) from the field including 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from deep and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.

This was a much different outcome than Thursday’s LSC home showdown with Texas Woman’s. The No. 13-ranked Pioneers knocked won in Canyon for only the second time in school history and the first time since January of 1981, beating the Lady Buffs 69-58.

What had become a normal trend of late before Saturday’s game with UT Tyler, WTAMU played a superb first half leading TWU 35-34 at halftime but would let the second half get away.

The Lady Buffs struggled from the floor going 24-of-65 (36.9 percent) and suffered 15 turnovers. Thabach did have another nice outing scoring a team-high 17 points despite the loss with nine boards.

Ashley Ingram led the way for the Pioneers scoring a game-high 19 points to go along with 12 rebounds and four assists for the double-double.

Next up

The Lady Buffs open the second half of the LSC schedule continuing their homestand with a matchup against Cameron at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday night.