FORT WORTH - Texas Wesleyan Women's Basketball (3-3, 1-0 SAC) took advantage of a short-handed Bacone Warriors squad (0-4, 0-2 SAC) Thursday night at the Sid Richardson Center, walloping the Warriors 77-36.

Texas Wesleyan scored 32 points in the second quarter, the most points in a quarter since NAIA women's basketball switched to quarters instead of halves in the 2015-2016 season. The Lady Rams stifled Bacone to just three points in the third quarter, also a record since quarters were adapted. Bacone traveled with just eight players and got the most production out of Kaylee Pinkston (12 points) but she needed 15 shots to get there.

The Lady Rams defense was aggressive, stealing away 14 arrant passes, including five steals for Lorian Benjamin, to go along with seven assists, three rebounds and two points. TXWES came into the contest 31st in the nation in steals per game, averaging 11.4. The 'D' held the Warriors to a miserable 22 percent shooting and Bacone didn't help themselves missing six out of 13 free shots from the line.

Nicole Gleason, the team's leading scorer through five games (16.8 ppg) and the countries fifth best maker of threes per game (3.8) got the night off, along with Tomi Sanchez and Bailey Broadnax - it didn't matter. The Lady Rams shot 42.9 percent and hit eight threes, including a stellar 60 percent shooting in the second quarter. That's when Lexi Burns got hot. Up 24-11, Burns sunk back-to-back three-pointers in a span of 53 seconds and then hit another bucket on the next possession to expand the lead to 21, 32-11 with 5:49 to go in the half. Burns hit two free throws to close out the half, getting fouled as the buzzer sounded. She finished with 14 points three rebounds, two steals and a block.

At one point in the second quarter, Texas Wesleyan had more points off turnovers (18) then Bacone had points (16).

Evie Whorley scored 12 points paired with four steals and four assists. Kyla Grant and Adrianna Davis came off the bench to each score eight with Davis collecting five rebounds, three on the offensive glass - three of the 17 offensive rebounds gathered by TXWES. Chrystal Ngawuchu and Jordan Brightwell each added six boards to go with their six and four points, respectively. 12 different players got double-digit minutes and no one played more than 23. 

Morgan Cessop popped off the bench and hit her first basket of the season - a right-wing three ball that pushed the Rams advantage to 64-16. She and another newcomer, Darby Pugh, led the squad with seven rebounds. They both added five points.

WHAT'S NEXT
Texas Wesleyan will host John Brown Saturday at 1 p.m. The Eagles topped Southwest Assemblies of God Thursday night 77-72 to improve to 6-1, 2-0 in the SAC. They'll be a test for the Lady Rams defense which ranked 36th in the country in scoring defense (60.4) before giving up just 36 points to Bacone. John Brown has eclipsed the century mark twice this season but had a miserable time in Fort Worth last year, scoring just 49 points in a 20-point loss.