[box vs. Texas A&M-Commerce]

LAS VEGAS, NV. ... A 13-4 run late in the second half put the Southwest Baptist University Lady Bearcats up eight points over Texas A&M-Commerce as SBU claimed a 79-71 win in their final game of the South Central Region Challenge over Texas A&M-Commerce.  Texas A&M-Commerce was up by as many as 11 before SBU came back to win the game.

SBU has now won six out of their last seven games and are 8-3 on the season.  Cortney Shewmaker busted out a career-high 24 points en route to leading the Lady Bearcats back to victory.  SBU had two players with double-doubles as Trisha Lyons had her first double-double of the year with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Casey Beavers recorded her third double-double of the year with 13 points and 14 rebounds.  Livia Brito also added 10 points.

Texas A&M-Commerce took control of the game early as they had a seven-point lead, 14-7, in the first five minutes of the game.  They extended their lead to 10, 25-15, by the 10:22 mark but SBU did cut the lead to two, 33-31, at the 2:32 mark.  Texas A&M-Commerce finished the half on a 9-3 run to take an eight-point lead into the half.  They had an 11-point lead with 00:32 left in the game but Shewmaker nailed a three-pointer with only four seconds left to bring the lead down to eight.

Eating away at Texas A&M-Commerce's lead slowly through the second half, SBU took the lead, 61-60, at the 7:34 mark.  SBU outscored Texas A&M-Commerce 27-18 to take their first lead of the game.  Lyons had 10 of SBU's 27 points in that run.  Two free throws by Texas A&M-Commerce at the 7:04 mark gave them a one-point lead.  From that point, the Lady Bearcats roared ahead with a 13-4 run to claim an eight-point lead, 74-66.  In the run, Shewmaker had nine of the 13 points and gave SBU the eight point lead on two free throws with 2:01 left in the game.  She then gave SBU their largest lead of nine, 78-69, with 00:43 seconds left on two more free throws.  All in all, Shewmaker scored 15 of her 25 points in the second half.

SBU shot 40% overall and made 50% from the 3-point line.  They held Texas A&M-Commerce to 41% from the floor.  SBU poured on the rebounding as they claimed an +11 rebounding edge over Texas A&M-Commerce, 51-40.  The Lady Bearcats also scored 18 points off of 12 Texas A&M-Commerce turnovers. 

The Lady Bearcats will be back in action on December 31st when they travel to Emporia, Kansas, to play the #4 team in the nation, Emporia State, at 1:30 p.m.