By Jared Fields, Sports Editor

In a reversal of roles for the women’s basketball team, the Wildcats lost Tuesday 82-67 to West Texas A&M.

The pattern of the game followed the Wildcats’ game against Midwestern State on Saturday, except this time, the Wildcats lost.

Against West Texas the Wildcats jumped out to an early 15-5 lead. After the quick start, the Lady Buffs made a run to take a 36-27 lead going into half. In the second half, the Wildcats came within four points of the lead, but West Texas went on a run of its own and kept a comfortable lead for the rest of the game.

“We were playing with a lot of confidence early and let them have a little run going into halftime,” head coach Shawna Lavender said. “After the half we cut it to four at one point and made a run but didn’t make the plays we needed to after that.”

Senior Ashley King was 5-10 from 3-point range and led the Wildcats with 23 points. Sophomore point guard Alex Guiton scored 10 points, made eight assists and three steals.

Despite the inconsistency at times by the offense, Lavender said the defense made the difference in the game.

“I was really disappointed in our game defensively last night,” Lavender said. “We didn’t do a good job of knowing where the shooters were, didn’t do a good job against guard penetration, and we were very inconsistent last night.”

Three games remain for the Wildcats. Saturday the team plays their final LSC road game at Eastern New Mexico, then finish the season with games against Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas Woman’s.

The Wildcats trail Texas Woman’s in the LSC South standings. The schedule favors the Wildcats going into the final games. Texas Women’s play Midwestern State on Saturday. Next week the Pioneers play Angelo State, which is 9-1 in conference play.

The final three games the Wildcats play are against teams they beat in the first round of conference games.

“We’ve just got to take care of business and win the games we’re supposed to win,” Lavender said.