Box Score

COMMERCE, Texas - There's a new confidence and a higher expectation at Midwestern State.

That was clearly on display in the Mustangs' dominating 81-44 Lone Star Conference opening win over Texas A&M-Commerce here on Wednesday night.

"We know we're good and we expect to win now," senior guard Savannah Carver said. "No one has that intimidated feeling anymore. We want to be the intimidators. We're very confident."

Carver led a pack of four Mustangs in double figures with 15 points, six rebounds and showed her aggression with a four steals in just 16 minutes of court time.

Freshman Dianna Jones stepped in for the injured Kirsti Degelia to score 13 points, pull down four rebounds and swipe three steals for the Mustangs.

"This was a good start for conference play," MSU coach Noel Johnson said. "But we have to go into every road game with the mentality that we are 0-0. I'm proud of the way we responded to this trip."

Sophomore forward Skyler Warrick kick started a 14-0 run with a pair of buckets midway through the first half keyed by a Carver 3-pointer as the Mustangs extended a 7-6 edge to 21-6 on a  Cierra Thompson jumper with 8:51 to play in the first half.

Midwestern closed the half on another 11-2 run to take a commanding 40-16 lead into the half before cruising the rest of the way.

The Mustangs would lead by as many as 38 points in the second half when Jones connected on a trey from the left corner with 2:53 to cruise to their third straight win to move to 4-2 on the season.

Warrick (12 points, 6 rebounds) and freshman guard Shatoia Gober (11 points, 5 rebounds) led MSU's bench efforts.

"We are always leery of the road games and worried about how we will respond," Johnson said. "But we have a good mix of upperclassmen with leadership and good young players."

Danielle Dixon had nine points to lead Texas A&M-Commerce which fell to 1-4 on the season and to 0-1 in LSC play.

Midwestern State returns to action with a pair of road games on Dec. 12 against Angelo State and Dec. 14 versus Incarnate Word.