Commerce, Texas – Playing in front of the biggest crowd in her young college career, Dorian Norris stepped up on both of ends of the floor in the final minute, to give the No. 6 Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s basketball team a 66-62 win over No. 2/4 Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps in a near sell-out at the Field House on Thursday evening.
Trailing throughout the game, the Lions took their first lead at the end of the third quarter and extended it to as high as seven in the fourth quarter. The Lady Chaps, winners of the last two NCAA Championships, fought back and brought it within one possession with 31 seconds left.
After a Lion turnover, the Lady Chaps had the ball down 64-62. Norris blocked Allie Schulte’s, the preseason LSC Player of the Year, attempt to tie the game and knocked down both free throws on the other end to give the Lions a 66-62 lead. Lubbock Christian tried to pull within one on its last possession, but their attempt bounced off the rim and gave the Lions their 12th win of the year.
In their last two trips to Commerce, the Lady Chaps have come up empty handed and fall to 13-3 on the year as well as 2-2 in Lone Star Conference play. The Lions, behind a crowd of 1,776 in the Field House, win their first conference game of the year and improve to 12-1 on the season.
A&M-Commerce missed its first six shots, while Lubbock Christian made four of its first six shots to lead 9-0, forcing the Lions to use their first timeout of the half with 5:58 left in the first quarter.
The Lady Chaps kept the pressure on the Lions by making three of their first four three pointers. Schulte picked up three fouls in the first quarter and played just five minutes in the first half.
Holding the Lions to shoot 4 for 15 on the defensive end, the Lady Chaps shot 8 for 12 offensively. The Lions made six of their seven free throw attempts, but trailed 21-14 after the first quarter.
Symmone James (McKinney – Boyd) ended a 2:14 scoring drought by both teams to pull the Lions within 25-21 with 6:12 to go in the second quarter, her only point of the night. Both teams had scoring droughts of three minutes or more multiple times in the second quarter.
Disrupting every Lion pass and recording five blocks in the first half, the Lady Chaps did not let the Lions settle offensively. Grace Foster knocked down a three pointer in transition to give the Lady Chaps a 32-21 lead at the 4:28 mark of the second quarter, their largest lead of the half.
Forster scored nearly half of her team’s points in the first half, scoring 17 off the bench. She was held to just three in the second half.
Chania Wright (DeSoto) received a special game ball prior to the game, becoming the 14th player in program history to reach the 1,000 career points mark as a Lion earlier this season. She went on a personal 5-0 run to pull the Lions within two. Following a steal by DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) on the defensive end, Wright knocked down a three pointer in transition to pull the Lions to 36-34 with 8:27 to go in the third quarter.
The Lions tied the game for the first time since the opening tip on a free throw by Kernal. She knocked down two more free throws to give the Lions a two-point lead. Dyani Robinson (Langham Creek) knocked down a layup following a steal in the back court by Norris to give the Lions a 53-49 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Robinson extended the Lion lead to seven points with six minutes to go on a layup. She had team-leading 18 points and four assists as well as six rebounds and two steals.
Kernal tallied 11 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Wright had 12 points, 10 in the second half, four rebounds, and an assist. Returning to the starting lineup, Juliana Louis (Long Beach, Calif.) grabbed seven rebounds, while also scoring six points.
Laila Lawrence (Lewisville) came off the bench and scored eight points, also recorded five rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Norris had six points, four coming at the line, and two rebounds as well as two blocks. Asiyha Smith (Conway, Ark.) had two points as did Olivia Russell (Auburn Hills, Mich.).
Despite 20 points from Foster, the Lion bench was only outscored 20-19. A&M-Commerce outscored Lubbock Christian 17-8 in transition and 18-2 in second chance opportunities, while holding the Lady Chaps to shoot 24 percent in the fourth quarter.
