CANYON, Texas - Midwestern State made a late run at No. 13 West Texas A&M, but it wasn't enough overcome a sluggish start as the Lady Buffs came away with a 69-56 Lone Star Conference South Division win Wednesday night at First United Bank Center.

"I'm very proud of these young ladies for the second half," MSU coach Noel Johnson said. "But you can't come into this environment against a team the caliber of West Texas A&M and be down 20 at half time."

The Mustangs, who fell to 6-11 on the season and 1-2 in the LSC South, play host to Eastern New Mexico Saturday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

Midwestern used a 7-2 run to open the second half to chop into a 21-point halftime deficit, then attacked the basket aggressively down the stretch as the Mustangs hit 12-of-14 free throws in the final 5:20 of the contest.

MSU narrowed the West Texas A&M advantage to 61-51 when Regiane Araujo hit a pair of free throws with 2:59, but there was not enough time to complete the comeback.

Freshman forward Jazman Patterson netted a season-high 11 points to lead the Mustangs, while Cierra Thompson and Katiya Jackson added 10 points each.

West Texas A&M took control from the tip as the Lady Buffs scored the first 12 points of the contest and would lead by as many as 21 points when Holly Isaacs hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give WT a 37-16 lead at the intermission.

The Lady Buffs turned 17 first-half Midwestern turnovers into 21 points and the Mustangs connected on just seven of 23 shots in the opening stanza.

Thompson was the Mustangs lone bright spot in the first half. The 5-11 freshman forward from Llano accounted for half of MSU's scoring output with eight points in 15 minutes off of the bench.

Senior All-America Emily Brister led a quartet of Lady Buffs starters in double figures with 16 points while adding five rebounds and six assists. It was just the third time this season she was limited to less than 20 points and was coming off of three-straight 30-point performances.

"Rosy (Ofoegbu) did a great job on her particularly in the second half (when Brister was held to four points)," Johnson said.

Joni Unruh added 13 points, while Courtney Lee and Jamie Dreiling added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

West Texas A&M improved to 14-2 on the season and 2-0 in the LSC South.