THE RUNDOWN
WICHITA FALLS -- Midwestern State survived a solid body blow from Texas A&M-Commerce before delivering its own knockout punch to claim a 69-66 Lone Star Conference win Saturday afternoon at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
 
The Mustangs (5-2) won for the fifth time in six games and improved to 2-0 in league play for the first time since 2014-15.
 
Senior Whitney Taylor buried four 3-pointers on her way to a team-high 14 points, but it was her back-at-ya triple with 2:56 to play that allowed the Mustangs to regain the lead after the Lions used an 11-2 run to claim a 54-50 lead on a pair of Princess Davis free throws with 7:34 to play.
 
The Mustangs quickly answered as Avery Queen and Mica Schneider hit consecutive layups following Liz Cathcart's 1-of-2 trip to the foul line as MSU re-established a 55-54 lead with 4:36 to go.
 
The teams exchanged the advantage two more times before A&M-Commerce's Melanie Ransom buried a 3 with 3:06 to go to give the visitors a 59-57 edge, but Taylor had the answer.
 
Junior guard Chelcie Kizart scored a season-best 10 points in her second consecutive start as the St. Paul, Minn. native dished out four assists and made two steals.
 
Schneider matched a season-high for the second straight outing with nine points and two steals including a pair of clutch buckets late in the fourth period.
 
Queen and Micheline Mercelita tallied seven points each.
 
Brianna Wise poured in 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting with two 3-pointers to pace Texas A&M-Commerce which fell to 4-4 and 1-1.
 
NOTES
- Midwestern State is 2-0 in Lone Star Conference for the second under coach Noel Johnson. The Mustangs are in a four-way tie at the top of the standings with West Texas A&M, Angelo State and UT Permian Basin.
- Senior guard Whitney Taylor knocked down four 3-pointers against Texas A&M-Commerce to move into a tie with Kristin Ramsey for third on MSU's all-time made 3-pointers list. Ramsey made 125 triples from 2000-04. Taylor needs eight to move past Andrea Buben (132 3s/2006-10) into second. Taylor's former teammate Lisa Hampton tops the list with 154 makes from 2011-15.
- MSU combined for a team season high of seven blocked shots including two each by Hannah Reynolds and Avery Queen, while Micheline Mercelita, Liz Cathcart and Taylor all blocked one shot each.
- Senior forward Avery Queen scored seven points and grabbed a season-high six rebounds in 17 minutes against Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
UP NEXT
Midwestern State takes on Angelo State Thursday night at Junell Center/Stephens Arena in San Angelo. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. The Rambelles won their third consecutive game Thursday night at Texas Woman's (74-62) to improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in LSC play.