by FRISCO, Texas – Ava Battese (Comanche/PBPN) had a career high 29 points and matched a Cameron record with seven three pointers, as the Aggie women’s basketball team fell 93-89 in a hard fought overtime battle against Texas A&M-Commerce in the first round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
Battese was on fire from deep for the Black and Gold, going 7-9 and hitting all six of her free throw attempts. The sophomore’s 29 points was the second most by an Aggie this season. Jamie Bonnarens also reached the 20 point plateau, with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while going 8-8 from the charity stripe before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Additionally, Jazmin Luster stepped in and filled the spot of Lejha Smith and Amaka Nwakamma, who both fouled out mid-way through the fourth quarter. The freshman scored a career high 12 points and had six rebounds, while Parfitt McNair also had 12 points.
The Aggies shot well in the loss, going 50 percent from the floor, 56.3 percent from the perimeter, and 77 percent from the free throw line. However, the foul differential was 25-37 in favor of the Lions as they went to the free throw line 50 times, converting 33 of their attempts.
Texas A&M-Commerce was led by Brianna Wise with 28 points and Princess Davis with 27.
Cameron came out firing in the first quarter, going 2-4 from three to build an 8-5 lead through the first five minutes of play. TAMUC responded with six straight points to go up by one. However, the Ags didn’t stop shooting and used a 7-0 to close out the first quarter up 18-10. The two teams battled in the second quarter, but the main difference was that the Aggies made all six of their free throw attempts, while the Lions went just 6-10 while also shooting just 33.3 percent from the field. That led to the Aggies leading 35-25 at the break.
Bonnarens led CU at the break with 14 points, going 3-6 from the floor and 6-6 from the free throw line. Battese chipped in 11 points, while making three of the Aggies’ five three pointers. Cameron shot over 52 percent from the field in the first half, while going 5-10 from three and 8-8 from the charity stripe. Wise led TAMUC with 15 points at the half.
The tempo was turned up in the third quarter and both teams scored over 20 points in the 10 minutes of play as the Black and Gold led 62-50 heading into the final quarter. Cameron continued their hot shooting, going 60 percent from the floor, 3-4 from the perimeter, and 6-8 from the free throw line, while the Lions made 11 of their 15 free throw attempts in the third. Texas A&M-Commerce came out determined in the fourth quarter, going on an 11-0 run to cut the CU lead down to just three points. From there, the game turned into a battle and the Lions took advantage of the Aggies’ foul trouble and tied the game at 70 with just under four minutes to play.
After four straight points from the Black and Gold, Davis hit a three to get TAMUC back within one point. After trading shots, Battese nailed her seventh three pointer of the game to go up 78-75, but the Lions kept coming back and tied the game at 80 with four straight free throws on Bonnarens’ fifth foul and then a technical foul on the Aggies. Cameron then put their faith in the freshman Luster who stepped up and drove to the basket to put CU back up by two with 29 seconds left. The Lions came back on the other end and did what they had been doing the whole game and got to the free throw line for two more free throws to tie the game again. The Black and Gold had a chance to get the win, but an offensive foul was called on a drive by McNair, giving TAMUC the ball back with just 8.7 seconds to play, but a missed three pointer would send the game to overtime, 82-82.
The Lions got on the board first in the extra time, but a free throw and a made shot from McNair put the Aggies back up by one, but a free throw from TAMUC’s Davis tied the game at 85 points apiece. Luster then came up big again with a layup on a great pass from Brianna Underwood, but Davis answered again with her fourth three point shot to go up by one. After a pair of free throws extended the Lions lead to three, McNair cut it back down on a jumper from the free throw line with under 30 seconds to play. A pair of CU turnovers in the final seconds of play led to TAMUC sealing the comeback with their 33rd free throw of the game to win 93-89.
The Aggies end the season at 13-16 while Texas A&M-Commerce is now 18-11 and will go on to face the winner of the West Texas A&M/Midwestern State matchup in the LSC Semifinal.
