Over the past three weeks, WTAMU has gone from a team trying to find an identity to a team finding confidence after getting two more Lone Star Conference wins over the weekend.
The Lady Buffs defended their home court getting a 70-62 victory against Eastern New Mexico on Thursday then turned around rolled over Western New Mexico 68-43 at the First United Bank Center.
WTAMU (16-10 overall, 11-7 in LSC) is hot when it counts coming down the stretch of the regular season winning six of their last seven games including a three-game unbeaten streak.
“We’re starting to play with more confidence,” WTAMU head coach Josh Prock said. “This is the time of the year to be playing great and we love to see that. I think this team right now is just playing great defense and knocking down timely shots. We weren’t doing that a few weeks ago.”
West Texas A&M 70, Eastern New Mexico 62
The Lady Buffs opened the homestand on Thursday getting revenge from a loss to Eastern New Mexico a near month ago.
Karley Motschenbacher had a very special night in the victory for the Lady Buffs. Not only did Motschenbacher lead the team with 19 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line to go with 10 boards for a double-double, but the senior also surpassed 1,000-points for her stellar career.
“Karley means a lot to this program,” Prock said. “It’s a true honor to coach her. She gives it all she has, and she is the perfect player to build a program around.”
Jayla Burgess complimented Motschenbacher pouring in a career-high 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor and Wellington graduate Kyla Kane chipped in 16.
WTAMU was hot from the field going 25-of-53 (47.2 percent) against ENMU including 17-of-20 from the charity stripe.
West Texas A&M 68, Western New Mexico 43
WTAMU avoided a sluggish start but got things going to pull away from the Mustangs thanks to a huge third quarter.
Leading just 35-34 midway through the third quarter, the Lady Buffs used a 15-2 run to seal the win against WNM.
Motschenbacher capped a huge weekend leading all scorers with 18 points while continuing her tremendous work at the free-throw line going 9-for-10.
Burgess and Canyon graduate Zoey McBroom followed with nine points each.
WT finished the afternoon shooting 41.6 percent from the floor and on the defensive side forced 11 turnovers.
Next up
The Lady Buffs are back on the road for LSC matchups with St. Mary’s and St. Edward’s on Thursday and Saturday.