CANYON, Texas – St. Edward's women's basketball closed its final weekend road trip of the regular season with a 78-57 loss to the West Texas A&M Buffaloes. 

West Texas A&M set the tone with its inside-outside duo in center Nyalam Thabach and guard Kyla Kane, who scored 21 points each on a combined 15-for-25 shooting. The two scored 13 of West Texas A&M's 21 points in the first quarter, and the Buffs reeled off an 8-0 run before MORGAN GARY closed the quarter with a 3-pointer to take a 21-10 lead. 

St. Edward's ramped up its defensive pressure in the second quarter, forcing ten turnovers, and found its offensive footing, hitting half of its 14 shot attempts to outscore West Texas A&M 23-21 in the quarter and trail 42-33 at the half. 

LAUREN CATHERMAN excelled in the second quarter with 12 points on 3for-5 shooting while also getting to the free-throw line for seven attempts, hitting six. MATILDA SORIC added five points off the bench, hitting one of her two 3-point attempts. 

Thabach helped West Texas A&M mitigate Catherman's scoring explosion with eight points on 3-for-3 shooting, and the Buffs made 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. 

West Texas A&M countered with a more balanced scoring attack in the third quarter, getting 11 of its 16 points from players outside of Thaback and Kane. St. Edward's struggled from the field, shooting 2-for-11, but got a 3-pointer from RONNIE CANTU and shot 4-for-7 from the free-throw line as a team. 

SAMMIE DUFEK and MIKAH CHAPMAN scored four points each in the fourth, but Kane hit all three of her shots for seven as West Texas A&M hit 8-for-13 from the field, including 3-for-5 from deep. 

Catherman led St. Edward's with 17 points and four steals. JAYDA RUFFUS-MILNER added 11 points and three rebounds. Taylor scored 12 points and contributed five assists for West Texas A&M, joining Thabach and Kane in double figures. 

St. Edward's falls to 13-15 with a 9-11 conference record. The Hilltoppers are one of four teams hovering near .500 for the final two conference tournament spots. Texas Permian Basin is 10-11 in conference with a game against Angelo State. Eastern New Mexico is 9-11 with two games against Western New Mexico. Cameron is 10-11 with a final game against Midwestern State. 

The Hilltoppers will close the next week with a home and away series against St. Mary's, playing in Austin on Tuesday and San Antonio on Thursday.