A&M-Commerce women’s basketball (1-1) went down early to Henderson State, and despite fighting back in the fourth quarter, couldn’t quite pull even, falling to the Lady Reddies (1-1) 82-76.
Freshman Princess Davis went off for 26 points and two steals while shooting a highly efficient 71 percent from the field (10 of 14). Davis’ big game led all players on the court, but wasn’t enough to push the Lions over the top.
“She had 26 points, but she did it efficiently. Ten of 14 from the field, I mean, those are things that post-players do,” said first year head coach Jason Burton, “She stepped up, and she’s got a bright future ahead of her.”
Henderson State went on a pair of significant runs in the first going on a 13-2 run from the 18-minute mark to 13:25 to put them up 17-6. The Lions would go blow for blow for ten more minutes, but in the final 1:57, the Lady Reddies finished the half on a 8-0 run to go into the locker room with a commanding 47-30 lead.
HSU deployed a small lineup, yet despite only deploying one player taller than 5’9”, outrebounded the much longer Lions’ frontcourt 46-31. Henderson State’s Deidra McCoy dominated the glass with a 10-15 double-double in 32 minutes of action.
La’Tisha Hearne had another big night as she led the Lions in rebounds with nine to go along with her 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting before fouling out late in the game. Only one other Lion -senior forward Abigail Leaupepe-Tele with six- managed to eclipse four rebounds.
“We have to do a better job on 50/50 balls,” said Burton, “A lot of times we’re not going after balls with two hands. We’ll block out but then we won’t go rebound. We have to do a better job of consistently blocking out. I’ll take the credit for not getting us prepared.”
The Lady Reddies made their living at the charity stripe, making 22 of their 31 free throw opportunities, making more free throws than the Lions even attempted (9 if 19).
Senior guard Ashlee Johnson led all players in minutes with 37. Johnson was a menace in passing lanes, pawing away five steals to go with her eight points, four boards and three assists.
Senior guard Aungelique Sledge led the way for the Lady Reddies with 20 points on 6 of 18 shooting to go with her five boards and two steals in an HSU-leading 34 minutes.
The Lions will take the next four days to regroup before entertaining the visiting Ouachita Baptist Tigers in the A&M-Commerce home-opener. That game will be in the Field House on Saturday, November 22 at 2:00 p.m.