Kingsville -- With a fundamental game plan of strong inside play and tough zone defense, the Texas A&M Kingsville Javelinas (4-9) were able to pick up an important win against the Cameron Aggies (1-12), 62-59.Lana Toki led the Javelinas with 21 points while senior Angela Trotter had 16 points and eight rebounds. The two combined to hit 12 of 19 shots from the floor.
It was Toki’s highest scoring game in a month and the most points scored by Trotter this season.
The Javelinas out-scored the Aggies in the paint 34-18.
The win broke a four-game home losing streak for the Javelinas as they won for the second time in their last three outings.
“Lana is one of our better players and we try to get her as many touches as we can,” said Javelina head coach Dina Kangas.
The Javelinas trailed Cameron by as many as eight in the first half and by three, 28-25 at the half, but went on a 9-2 run in the first three and a half minutes of the second half to grab a 36-30 lead.
The rally was capped by a 3-point field goal by freshman guard Kayla Naylor (Calallen).
The Javelinas would never give up the lead, but Cameron stayed within striking distance the entire second half.
Texas A&M-Kingsville built the lead to 9, 52-43 with 4:25 left in the game, but Cameron cut the lead to three 59-56 with 1:11 remaining.
But the Javelina defense stepped-up, holding the Aggies without a point until a meaningless 3-point basket at the buzzer.
“Every time we needed a stop we got a stop,” Kangas said. “We played them in a zone which we normally don’t do. We matched up better against them in a zone than we did man-to-man.”
Cameron shot just 30 percent for the game and only 25 percent in the second half when the Javelinas employed their zone defense.
After shooting just 33 percent in the first half, the Javelinas hit 13 of 26 shots over the final 20 minutes for 50 percent.
The Javelinas won the rebounding battle with a 40-36 advantage as Jasmine June chipped in with a season high seven boards.
The Javelinas jumped out to an early lead against the Aggies scoring their first 10 points of the game in the paint to take an early 10-6 lead. The Aggies were able to come back and tie the score at 12 before going on a 10-2 run to take a 22-14 lead on a Tiffany Williams three-pointer with 5:46 left in the first half.
After Cameron took a 26-18 lead with less than three minutes to play in the half, the Javelinas used the foul line and stingy defense to cut away at the lead. Ali Scott was fouled shooting a three-point shot and made all three free throws to cut the lead to 21-26. On the next Javelina possession, Lana Toki made two more throws to make it a three-point game. Rosalyn Robbins and Sandra Maldonado each added in a free throw during the run that saw the Javelina defense hold the Aggies to one basket in the final 2:51 of the half to make the score 28-25 at halftime.
The Javelinas will host New Jersey Tech in a non-conference game Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
