Feb. 21, 2004

Box Score

Carlee Howard shined on Senior Night at the WTAMU Event Center, as the Lady Buffs' lone senior etched her name in WTAMU's record book again in the 21st-ranked Lady Buffs' 95-49 rout of Texas A&M University-Kingsville, in a Lone Star Conference South division contest.

Howard tied WTAMU's single-season 3-pointers record with four Saturday, to give her 79 on the season, tying Lori DeShields (1994-95). Thursday night, Howard broke DeShields' school and LSC record for treys in a game, as Howard drained 10 on her way to a career-high 32 points.

Saturday night, Howard finished with 14 points, one of six Lady Buffs in double-figures, as every WTAMU player in uniform scored at least four points, marking the third time in the last four games that every player scored.

Junior forward Celeste Stevenson netted a game-high 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to register her fourth double-double of the season, including three in the last four games. Fellow junior forward Vasha Adams also posted a double-double, her fifth of the season, tallying 12 points and game-high 13 rebounds.

Junior guard Suni Jo Petty added 14 points, followed by freshman guard Natalie Wheeler with 12 points and junior forward Keisha Monroe with 11. All three players helped WTAMU's reserves to a 41-8 scoring advantage over TAMU-K's bench.

The Javelinas were led by Jody Brooks with 13 points, while Angela Trotter added 11.

The Lady Buffs held a commanding 51-28 rebounding advantage, far and away their largest margin of the season.

With the win, WTAMU finishes the regular-season undefeated at home with a 12-0 ledger, currently on a 13-game home winning streak.

The win also improves the Lady Buffs to 22-3 overall and 10-2 in the LSC South. WTAMU remains in a tie atop the division, as fellow co-leader Eastern New Mexico defeated Texas A&M-Commerce, 79-69, Saturday. However, the logjam lost a member Saturday night, as previous co-leader Abilene Christian was knocked off by Midwestern State, 78-75.

Texas A&M-Kingsville lost its seventh in a row and are now 2-23 overall, 1-11 in LSC South action.

The Lady Buffs just couldn't pull away from the pesky Javelinas until the second half, opening a 20-point lead for the first time on a layup from Stevenson to put WTAMU ahead, 45-24 with 18:13 remaining.

The lead grew to as much as 54 at 94-40 with 2:34 left on a pair of free throws by junior guard Stephanie Williams.

WTAMU concludes the regular-season with a pair of games on the road with dramatic implications, with the LSC South title and the right to host not only LSC Tournament first-round action, but hosting the second and third rounds as well, all at stake.

The Lady Buffs open the road trip on Thursday, Feb. 26, at Abilene, Texas against Abilene Christian in a 6 p.m. tip-off. WTAMU wraps up regular-season at San Angelo, Texas against Angelo State on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m.