LCU women use free throws to turn away Aggies

LUBBOCK, Texas—Landing a dominating post player is something all women’s college basketball coaches strive to locate and actually sign. However, since the Division I programs often grab up all those elite post players, it makes it tough on NCAA Division II teams like Cameron to find those dominating players who can produce in the paint.

Cameron has been able to overcome the lack of a force inside by recruiting good long-range shooters in the past decade and that’s allowed the Aggies to compete against the tough Lone Star Conference teams and make it to the LSC Tournament several times.

But this season the CU women are not having much success with the long ball and Saturday the Aggies hit just 1-of-11 from long range and that spoiled a golden opportunity for a road win over Lubbock Christian as the Lady Chaps rallied in the second half to earn a 56-50 victory over the Aggies. With the loss the CU women fell to 5-10 in the West Division of the Lone Star which leaves the Aggies tied with Midwestern in sixth place with seven games remaining in the regular season.

The good news for the CU women is that five of those remaining games are at home starting with Western New Mexico coming to Lawton on Thursday and then Eastern New Mexico will be in the Aggie Gym Saturday. Those two womens teams are 3-11 and are behind the Aggies and MSU so that opens up an opportunity to climb the ladder.

CU has completed its two games against West Division power Lubbock Christian but Jeff Mahoney’s women still have a Feb. 17 road test against UT Permian Basin which leads the division at 12-2. CU women also have a game against Angelo State which is third in the West. However, after the Permian Basin game the CU women host Texas A&M-International and A&M-Kingsville, both East Division members, then a home game against MSU on Feb. 29 in an important division contest.

Clearly CU’s long-range shooting woes were a major factor Saturday as the Aggies hit 1-of-11 for a paltry 9.1 percent. However, free throw shooting was another big reason for the loss as the Lady Chaps hit 21-of-23 free throws for a blistering 91.3 percent. While CU hit 100 percent from the charity stripe, the Aggies only went to the line five times as the hosts committed 12 fouls while Cameron was called for 16 along with one technical.

Shamika Smith led the Aggies with 23 points but no other CU player reached double figures. Katie King added nine and Korie Allensworth eight but the rest of the team combined for just eight more points.

Chaps roll in men’s game

While the CU women were in their game until the final minutes, the Aggies struggled throughout their game and lost an 89-64 decision.

The CU men saw the Chaps shoot a sizzling 35-of-53 from the field for 66 percent while the Aggies sank 22-of-54 for just 40.7 percent.

CU men held their own from long range, hitting 6-of-19 for 31.6 percent while the hosts sank 7-of-16 from behind the arc for 43.8 percent. The Aggies hit 14-of-17 from the free throw while the hosts hit 12-of-15.

Jaylan Thomas led the Aggies with 15 points, Andre Washington chipped in 12 and Jaxon Ingram added 11 more. Seven others combined to account for 26 more points but that wasn’t enough to overcome the Chaps deep lineup.

The CU men fell to 9-6 after the loss which leaves the Aggies alone in fifth place behind West Texas (14-0), Lubbock Christian (11-3), Eastern New Mexico (10-4) and Angelo State (10-5).

With Eastern New Mexico coming to Lawton Saturday, the Aggies can improve their position in a hurry if they can beat the two New Mexico teams.

The toughest test will likely be the Feb. 15 road battle against Angelo State, or the UT Permian Basin game on Feb. 17 which is CU’s final road game. The good news for the men is that A&M-International and A&M-Kingsville men are both down the line in the East Division and while those two games are not counted in the playoff picture, winning both would give the Aggies a big dose of confidence heading into the regular-season finale on Feb. 29 against MSU which is 6-9 after Saturday’s road loss to West Texas.