LCU downs St. Edward's in LSC tournament opener
FRISCO — Rowan Mackenzie had 23 points and 11 rebounds, helping No. 5 seed Lubbock Christian University beat No. 4 seed St. Edward's 71-59 Friday night in the first round of the Lone Star Conference men's basketball tournament.
LCU (19-10) was set to face the tournament's top seed, No. 22 West Texas A&M (23-6), in a semifinal Saturday night at the Comerica Center. WT has won nine games in a row, including back-to-back triumphs over LCU in the last week of the regular season.
The Chaps shook off 22 percent shooting in the first half, which ended with St. Edward's (21-11) leading 27-22.
Russell Harrison scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, his first double-double for the Chaps this season. Kurt Wegscheider finished with 16 points, and Najeeb Muhammad registered nine points and eight assists. Wegscheider's point total was two off his season high, and Muhammad's assist count was one short of his season high.
St. Edward's got 20 points from Blake Nielsen and 11 points and 18 rebounds from Sean Elkinton.
The top three seeds won the other first-round games. West Texas A&M rolled over Eastern New Mexico 97-66; No. 2 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville topped St. Mary's 66-61 in overtime; and No. 3 seed Angelo State stopped Dallas Baptist 64-43.
A&M-Kingsville (21-10) and Angelo State (24-5) were scheduled to meet in the other semifinal late Saturday.
Texas Woman's 84, LCU 49
FRISCO — Brielle Woods and Ashley Ingram scored 17 points apiece and No. 1 seed Texas Woman's routed No. 4 seed Lubbock Christian University in a Lone Star Conference tournament semifinal Saturday at the Comerica Center.
Texas Woman's (26-4), ranked No. 11 and No. 16 in the two major polls for NCAA Division II, shot a tournament record 72 percent from 3-point range, making 13 of 18. The Pioneers advanced to the tournament championship game for the first time since 2011, when they won their only title.
They will face No. 2 seed Angelo State (24-6) at 1 p.m. Sunday. Angelo State beat UT Tyler 62-53 in the other semifinal.
LSC player of the year Grace Foster scored 15 for LCU (22-10). Audrey Spurgin added 12. The Lady Chaps are No. 7 in the latest NCAA South Central Region ranking, and the top eight from the region make the D-II NCAA Tournament that starts next week.
Sadie Moyer added 15 points for TWU, which led 22-7 after one quarter and 49-15 at halftime. Ingram had 12 rebounds and five assists.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: LCU downs St. Edward's in LSC tournament opener
