[November 16, 2008]

A&M-Commerce women wins season opener

(Greenville Herald-Banner (Greenville, Texas) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 16--COMMERCE -- Britney Jordan and the Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions started their 2008-9 basketball season with an 88-57 pounding of Southern Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.

Jordan, a preseason all-American candidate, pumped in 30 points, pulled down seven rebounds, handed out five assists and grabbed six steals as the Lions never trailed.

"She's ready to have a great senior year," said Lions coach Denny Downing. "She's focused. She's comfortable with the players on this team."

"I had a lot of fun," said Jordan, who averaged 19.6 points last season for the 19-9 Lions. "We have a lot of players with tremendous talent and we all want to win. We take pride in our defense and we take pride in our offense."

A&M-Commerce's offense hit 62.5 percent from 3-point range as Jordan was 5-of-7, Desiree Waller went 3-of-4 and Nakazi Glover knocked down both of her 3-point shots.

The Lion defense reached one of its goals by limiting the Lady Riders to 57 points while forcing 32 turnovers.

"What I'm happy about is...we talked at the half about trying to keep them under 60 points and we held them to 57," said Downing.

Southern Arkansas shot 37.3 percent from the field for the game, sinking only 8-of-24 shots in the second half.

The Lions, who shot 52.5 percent in the first half (21-of-40), cooled off at the start of the second half to go scoreless for the first 4:23 but finally found the range and finished at 46.4 percent (32-of-69) for the game.

Four other Lions scored in double digits with Waller at 15 points to go with seven assists, Glover with 11 points and Campbell and Alisha Williams both chipping in 10 points. Campbell, who is a 5-7 sophomore from Rockwall, also grabbed six steals.

Kmaria Hobbs, a 5-11 freshman from Clarksville, fired in 14 points to share Southern Arkansas' scoring lead with Aralee Smith, a 5-7 junior from Greenwood, Ark. Goldie White also pumped in 13 points for the Lady Riders and Shardae Thompson added 10 points.

Hobbs pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for Southern Arkansas though the Lions won the battle on the boards, 44-30.

A&M-Commerce scored the game's first four points and led by margins of 13-2, 16-5, 23-8, 40-26 and 58-28 in the first half. Nola Taylor led the Lions with eight rebounds.

Southern Arkansas couldn't get any closer than within 21 points in the second half.

"I liked our effort," said Downing. "I thought our team played very unselfishly.

"It doesn't hurt when you shoot 62 percent for threes," he said.

Non-conference women's basketball

Southern Arkansas 28 29 --57

A&M-Commerce 5830 --88

SAU (57)

Lynzi Williams 0-3 0-0 0, Aralee Smith 5-13, 2-2 14, Goldie White 5-14 2-4 13, Shanaye Davis 0-4 4-4 4, Angelica Patterson 1-2 0-0 2, Shanece Black 0-1 0-0 0, Kristy Shinn 0 0-0 0, Ellana White 0-0 0-0 0, Shardae Thompson 3-5 4-5 10, Kmaria Hobbs 5-10 4-4 14. Totals 19-52 16-19 57.

A&M-C (86)

Lametrius Edwards 2-5 0-2 4, Desiree Waller 6-14 0-0 15, Britney Jordan 11-16 3-4 30, Genevieve Campbell 4-11 2-2 10, Alisha Williams 3-3 4-5 10, Anisha Ingram 0-1 0-0 0, Tiffany Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0, Angelique Robinson 2-4 0-0 4, Erica Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Nakazi Glover 3-8 3-4 11, Nola Taylor 1-4 2-5 4. Totals 32-68 14-22 88.

3-point goals -- A&M-C 10-16 (Waller 3-4, Jordan 5-7, Campbell 0-3, Glover 2-2), SAU 3-11 (Williams 0-1, Smith 2-4, White 1-4, Black 0-1, Thompson 0-1); rebounds -- A&M-C 44 (Taylor 8), SAU 32 (Hobbs 10); assists -- A&M-C 15 (Waller 7), SAU 6 (Williams, Smith 2); turnovers -- SAU 32, A&M-C 23; total fouls -- SAU 17, A&M-C 15; attendance -- 650.

Records: A&M-C 1-0, SAU 0-1.

Next game: Incarnate Word at A&M-Commerce, 2 p.m. Saturday.

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