FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University women’s basketball team (21-4, 13-4 RRAC) picked up an important 60-49 victory against LSU-Shreveport (14-10, 11-7 RRAC) Monday night at the Sid Richardson Center.

The Lady Rams got off to an unusual rocky start against the Lady Pilots, starting off 1-12 from the field and 2-7 from the free throw line. The Lady Pilots secured an early 9-2 advantage with consecutive three pointers. The Lady Rams battled back to come within one off a three pointer from Shayla Moore that made the score 16-15 Lady Pilots with 7:19 left in the half. LSU-Shreveport scampered back out to a 22-18 lead with a Sharday Cotton jumper with 4:53 left. Moore answered again with a shot from downtown bringing the score to a 22-21 Lady Pilot advantage. Texas Wesleyan finally took the lead with 2:53 left in the first half, with a pair of Tiffany Adair free throws. LSUS tied the game at 27-27 with 00:49 on the clock before Veronica Mergerson and the Lady Rams secured a 28-27 half time lead off of a free throw shot.

Wesleyan shot only 25.7% in the first half from the field and 53.8% from the free throw line, compared to the Lady Pilots 34.5% from the floor and 57.1% from the free throw line. The Lady Rams dominated in points off of turnovers 12-2, and points off the bench 15-7. The Lady Pilots outscored Texas Wesleyan in the paint 12-8. LSU-Shreveport led by as many as eight points in the first half, when a Jenna Diakos lay-up gave the Lady Pilots a 16-8 lead with 8:41 left in the first half.

Adair scored the first four points of the second half to give Wesleyan a 32-27 lead. The Lady Rams tightened the reins on defense, outscoring the LSU-Shreveport 32-22 in the second half. The Lady Pilots inched within one on a pair of Diakos free throws that brought the score to 34-33 Texas Wesleyan early in the second half. From there, TWU went on an 8-0 run to take a 42-33 lead. The Lady Rams extended the lead to a 15 point, 48-43 lead on a pair of Mergerson free throws with 4:34 left. The Lady Pilots were unable to break the Wesleyan defense and the Lady Rams grab the 60-49 win.

With the win, the Texas Wesleyan holds a potential tie-breaker over SAGU (18-7, 13-4 RRAC) in the conference standings.

The Lady Rams shot 41.4% from the floor in the second half, while the Lady Pilots struggled against the sharp Wesleyan defense, shooting only 26.7% from the field. Texas Wesleyan gave up no buckets behind the arc in the second half, while shooting 41.7% from the three point line.

With the Jekyll and Hyde-like shooting performance by the Lady Rams, they ended up shooting 32.8% from the floor for the game, while LSUS shot 30.5% from the field.

Moore led all players with 15 points and seven rebounds, adding three steals in the win. Nicole Terral posted 13 points, five boards, and two steals for the Rams. Mergerson tallied 10 points to go along with six rebounds for Wesleyan.

The Lady Rams hit the road and will travel to Austin, TX, to take on Huston-Tillotson University on Thursday, February 17, at 7:30 p.m. Texas Wesleyan will come back home to play Bacone College on Saturday. February 19, on “Think Pink” day in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness. Game time is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start at the Sid Richardson Center.