Faurot, MSU Women come up big against Texas Woman's, 63-51

DENTON, Texas - Last week, Midwestern State University coach Shannon Burks laid out the route to the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament in stages. "We were looking at scenarios and made a little step ladder," Burks said. "We made the first step in Kingsville and made step two with a nice second half." Senior forward Angie Faurot ensured the Mustangs' playoff hopes stayed alive by tying a career high with 24 points in a 63-51 win over the Texas Woman's University Pioneers Saturday afternoon at Kitty Magee Arena. "It was nice to see a senior come out with the playoffs on the line and play as well as she did," Burks said. The Mustangs improved to 11-14 on the season and moved them into a tie fourth-place tie with the Pioneers in the LSC South with a 5-7 divisional record. TWU is now 12-12 on the season. Abilene Christian joined TWU and MSU at 5-7 after defeating Eastern New Mexico 85-76 Saturday night in Portales, N.M. The top four teams in each division qualify for the LSC postseason tournament.  MSU earned season splits with both teams. ACU defeated the Pioneers earlier this season 84-79 in overtime at Magee Arena. The Mustangs close the regular season with home games against West Texas A&M on Wednesday and Eastern New Mexico on Saturday. Both games tipoff at 6 p.m. "(West Texas A&M) is the best team in the league. It's going to take a great effort on our part," Burks said. "We're going to need some help, but we have to win one of two at the worst." The Pioneers travel to Angelo State on Wednesday, while ACU plays host to Texas A&M-Kingsville on Thursday. Texas Woman's travles to Abilene to close the regular season at Moody Coliseum. Faurot buried three of her five treys in the first half to keep the Mustangs within hailing distance as they trailed the Pioneers 32-29 at the half. "I was not real happy with our defensive intensity in the first half," Burks said "We did a much better job of pressuring them out to other areas of the floor. It ended up being a good effort." Burks once against credited the defensive intensity of senior guard Katie Robertson for getting MSU in a defensive state of mind."She's been very instrumental in our last two wins," Burks said. The Mustangs limited the Pioneers to 27.6-percent (8-of-29) shooting from the floor and converted 17 TWU turnovers into 16 points. Junior forward Sonya Courtney and sophomore guard Stacey Staten also made big defensive contributions in the second half. "Soni and Stacey aren't going to put a lot on the stat sheet did a real nice job of putting pressure on them," Burks said. Katherine Maples added 14 points and four rebounds for the Mustangs, while Robertson finished with 10 points, six assists and four rebounds Staten added eight points and eight rebounds. Margaret Wimbish paced the Pioneers with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Courtney Colmer added 12 points and four rebounds.

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