SAN ANGELO — The Texas Woman’s basketball team’s record-breaking season came to an end Friday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament.
TWU closed the 2022-23 season with 26 wins — the most in program history — and six losses — the fewest in program history.
The Pioneers fell to seventh seed Lubbock Christian 62-55 on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament.
TWU entered the tournament with its highest seed in program history at No. 2. The Pioneers met LCU for the third time this season and second time in a week, after facing them in a Lone Star Conference championship semifinal game on March 4.
In Friday’s game, the Pioneers got off to a slow start and struggled to score, but held the Lady Chaps to a low first quarter that ended LCU leading by one point, 6-5.
The second quarter proved to be a momentum-shifting quarter, as the Pioneers’ shooting woes continued and LCU found a few more baskets.
The Lady Chaps outscored the Pioneers 15-9 in the second quarter to take a 21-14 lead at halftime.
The Pioneers came out with renewed fervor in the second half.
After a 3-pointer by Sadie Moyer off a steal by Brielle Woods and two made free throws from Ngozi Obineke, the Pioneers were in prime position heading into the fourth quarter trailing by five points, 39-34.
In the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, TWU cut the LCU lead to one point, 43-42, after Ashley Ingram scored a layup.
The Pioneers took a timeout, and right out of the timeout, Moyer knocked down a jumper to give the Pioneers their first lead of the game since the first quarter, 44-43. LCU quickly responded to reclaim the lead on back-to-back baskets, 46-43, but another jumper by Moyer cut the Lady Chaps’ lead to one point again, 46-45.
Then, a foul sent LCU’s Grace Foster to the line, where she made two free throws to put LCU ahead 48-45.
TWU locked in on defense and both teams went scoreless for four minutes until an and-one by Foster put the Lady Chaps up by six points. Maci Maddox put LCU by up eight with 1:40 left in the game, and the Pioneers were unable to find any answers on offense.
TWU fell to LCU for the first time this season, 62-55.
After a slow start to the game, the Pioneers scored 20 or more points in the third and fourth quarters.
TWU won the rebound battle 38-28, including 14 total team offensive rebounds. The Pioneers forced LCU into 12 turnovers and scored 13 points off those turnovers but committed 14 turnovers.
Obineke led the Pioneers with 14 points and Ingram scored 11 points. In the loss, Ingram also grabbed 10 rebounds to record her eighth double-double of the season. Woods led the Pioneers on defense with three steals.
Along with setting the records for most wins and fewest losses, the Pioneers also broke many other records this season. They won the most consecutive games at 21, scored the most points in a quarter with 35, received their highest national ranking in program history at No. 3, and set the LSC championship tournament record for highest 3-point percentage in a game.
It was the first year TWU had multiple Pioneers named to the D2CCA All-Region Team, and coach Beth Jillson became the only Pioneer head coach to win the LSC Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons.
And for the first time in program history, the Pioneers won the LSC regular-season title and the East Division title.
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