STEPHENVILLE, Texas -- A bucket by Tarleton State's Shanae Lowrance with 10 seconds left gave the TexAnns a 71-69 victory against No. 5 West Texas A&M on Wednesday evening, snapping the Lady Buffs' 14-game winning streak. With the loss, WT fell to 21-2 on the year and 12-1 in Lone Star Conference play, while TSU improved to 18-6 and 9-5 in conference play.
WT got the ball back with 51 seconds left down one. Out of the Lady Buff timeout, senior Devin Griffin scored inside with 39 seconds remaining for a 69-68 lead. TSU drained the clock and Lowrance scored down low for a 70-69 TSU lead with 10.6 seconds left. WT called a timeout and had one last chance inbounding at midcourt.
A turnover on WT and foul gave TSU a 71-69 lead with 3.5 seconds left. The Lady Buffs drove the court and were unable to get a shot off as time expired.
WT will return home for its final two home games of the regular season Saturday and Sunday against Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas Woman's, respectively. The Lady Buffs still have chance to clinch the outright Lone Star Conference regular season title with a Texas Woman's loss Thursday or one win by WT in its final three games.
The Lady Buffs were led by three players in double figures as Griffin led the team with 19 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. She was 8 of 13 from the field and 3 of 6 from the line. Senior Casey Land had 17 points with 14 in the second half on 5 of 11 from the field and 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. Senior Raven Gerald added 11 points on 4 of 7 from the field and three triples along with six assists.
Tarleton State was led by 26 points and 15 rebounds from Kiara Wright as she was 10 of 21 from the field and 6 of 8 from the line. Only one other TexAnn in double figures as Brianna Bledsoe had 10 points on 3 of 6 from the field and 4 of 5 from the line.
No. 1 Bentley 95, Southern New Hampshire 55
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Senior All-America forward Lauren Battista, named the Capital One NCAA Division II Academic All-America of the Year earlier in the day, celebrated with a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds as undefeated Bentley cruised to its 24th win of the season 95-55 against Southern New Hampshire in Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball Wednesday night at the SNHU Field House.
Battista, who pushed her school record point total past 1,900 to 1,915, led five Falcons in double figures as the season-long number one in the USA TODAY Sports/WBCA Division II coaches poll moved to within two wins of an unblemished regular season and improved to 19-0 in conference play.
In the wire-to-wire win, Bentley put up its second-highest field goal percentage of the season, .567, and collected an incredible 72 percent of the game's rebounds, claiming 52 to SNHU's 20.
With senior point guard Christiana Bakolas, Battista and freshman Jen Gemma combining for as many points as SNHU had as a team, Bentley brought a 45-31 lead into the halftime break. The Falcons scored the first five points on a Battista second-chance basket and a three-ball from the right corner by senior forward Caleigh Crowell, and went on to lead by as many as 16.
