Lady Aggies advance to LSC tournament

 POSTSEASON GAME NOTES»
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LAWTON, Okla. (Feb. 25) - It took three days after its final regular season game before the Cameron women's basketball team learned its Lone Star Conference postseason fate.

But on Saturday, it was all good news for the Lady Aggies, who clinched the No. 4 seed in the LSC's North Division by virtue of Central Oklahoma's 62-57 upset victory at East Central.

Cameron will travel to either West Texas A&M or Tarleton State on Tuesday night for opening-round play in the conference tournament. WTAMU was scheduled to host TSU on Saturday evening to decide the top seed in the LSC's South Division. The Lady Aggies will play the winner of that game.

"I don't think there's a team in the league that wants to play us in the conference tournament," Lady Aggie head coach Dick Halterman said Saturday upon learning of his team's fate. "We've got the ability to play with anybody in this league and our girls are going to be pumped up to be playing in the tournament."

Cameron defeated Tarleton State by 14 (73-59) on the road earlier this season on Dec. 10. In that game, Lady Aggie senior Brittany Cooksey scored a game-high 25 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three-point range. Cameron shot a season-high 64.1 percent from the floor in the game while limiting Tarleton State to just 37.1 percent shooting.

In a Dec. 1, meeting with West Texas A&M, the Lady Aggies shot just 32.8 percent from the floor in a 96-58 home loss to the Lady Buffs. Tiffany Williams was the only Cameron player in double figures in the game, scoring 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. West Texas A&M got a game-high 22 points from Emily Brister, who leads all conference players in scoring this season. The Lady Buffs also got 21 points from Keisha Monroe and 17 from Natalie Wheeler. The 38-point loss was the largest defeat for the Lady Aggies since suffering a 39-point setback to Lady Buffs on Jan. 10, 2004.

The top four teams in each division (North and South) qualify for the LSC postseason tournament. Tuesday's first-round games are cross-seeded and will be played at the site of the higher seed (e.g., No. 4 North at No. 1 South, No. 3 South at No. 2 North, etc.).

The four teams advancing to the semifinals will play at the site of the No. 1 South seed, however, if the top seed is eliminated, the semifinals and finals will move to the site of the highest remaining seed regardless of division. If a tie exists for highest remaining seed, the site will be determined by odd-even formula (North in odd-numered years, South in even).

For more information on the Lone Star Conference postseason basketball championships, visit the LSC online at www.lonestarconference.org.