Kingsville – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women’s basketball team played the #17 team in the nation, Texas A&M-Commerce, even for the first 30 minutes of the game, but the Lions outplayed the Javelinas in the final 10 minutes to win 65-58. Click here for stats.
The loss dropped the Javelinas to 4-7 while the Lions won their sixth straight and improved to 10-2.
LaKeisha Jones (Winnsboro, La.) posted her second consecutive double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, Dyana Bullinger (Spring Klein) had 16 points and eight boards while Kayla Naylor (Calallen) added 10 points and four assists.
Melissa Bratton led the Lions and all scorers with 19 points.
The Javelinas trailed 30-29 at the half and hung with the Lions for the first 10 minutes of the second half with the game tied at 41.
But the Lions put together a game-changing 9-1 run to grab a 50-42 advantage with 7:39 left in the game.
The Javelinas cut the lead to four, 57-53 with 4:06 remaining, but could get no closer.
The Lions outscored the Javelinas by six at the free throw line in the second half after the A&M-Kingsville had outscored A&M-Commerce by six from the line in the first half.
“They did a better job in the second half of not settling for jump shots and attacked our zone and got to the free throw line. We took a big step today in terms of execution and effort,” said Javelina head coach Scott Hyland. “We got better today and we have to get better on Thursday.”
The Javelinas gave the Lions all they could handle in the first half, trailing by just one, 30-29 at the intermission.
The A&M-Kingsville defense was stifling in the first few minutes, holding the Lions to just 1-of-10 shooting and jumping out to a 7-2 lead four minutes into the game.
The nationally ranked Lions came back, grabbing a 20-15 lead with seven and a half minutes left before intermission.
But the Javelinas caught fire offensively, going on a 9-0 run to grab a 24-20 lead with 2:20 left in the half. Bullinger and Toki each had three points apiece during the rally.
The Lions closed the half on a 10-5 run to grab the halftime advantage.
Jones led the Javelinas with 10 first half points and six rebounds. Lana Toki came off the bench and grabbed six rebounds and dished out a pair of assists and Bullinger had nine points, hitting 3 of 4 3-point shot attempts.
Each team shot just 33 percent from the floor in the first half, but the Javelinas made 8 of 10 free throws while the Lions were only 2 of 4.
The Javelinas will travel to Northeastern State Thursday.
Newspaper Box Score
Texas A&M-Commerce vs Texas A&M-Kingsville
1/5/07 2:00 p.m. at Kingsville, Texas
At Kingsville, Texas
TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE 65, TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE 58
TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE (10-2)
BRATTON, Melissa 6-12 4-4 19; WILLIAMS, Brittany 5-9 2-2 13; MOSLEY,
Katedria 2-11 5-6 9; ROBINSON, Angelique 3-3 1-2 7; JORDAN, Britney 2-9 1-6
6; TAYLOR, Nola 2-5 1-3 5; CAMPBELL, Tarika 2-7 0-0 5; CAMPBELL, Genevieve
0-2 1-2 1; EVANS, Dominee 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 22-64 15-25 65.
TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE (4-7)
BULLINGER, Dyana 5-13 2-3 16; JONES, LaKeisha 7-15 2-2 16; NAYLOR, Kayla 2-7
5-6 10; TOKI, Lana 2-8 2-3 6; SOZA, Felicia 1-10 2-2 5; SCOTT, Ali 1-1 1-2
4; SUTTON, Reagan 0-0 1-2 1; MALDONADO, Sandra 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-54 15-20
58.
Texas A&M-Commerce............ 30 35 - 65
Texas A&M-Kingsville.......... 29 29 - 58
3-point goals--Texas A&M-Commerce 6-20 (BRATTON, Melissa 3-7; CAMPBELL,
Tarika 1-2; WILLIAMS, Brittany 1-5; JORDAN, Britney 1-3; CAMPBELL, Genevieve
0-1; MOSLEY, Katedria 0-2), Texas A&M-Kingsville 7-22 (BULLINGER, Dyana 4-7;
NAYLOR, Kayla 1-6; SCOTT, Ali 1-1; SOZA, Felicia 1-3; TOKI, Lana 0-3; JONES,
LaKeisha 0-2). Fouled out--Texas A&M-Commerce-None, Texas
A&M-Kingsville-None. Rebounds--Texas A&M-Commerce 46 (MOSLEY, Katedria 9),
Texas A&M-Kingsville 41 (JONES, LaKeisha 11). Assists--Texas A&M-Commerce 8
(CAMPBELL, Tarika 3), Texas A&M-Kingsville 10 (NAYLOR, Kayla 4). Total
fouls--Texas A&M-Commerce 18, Texas A&M-Kingsville 20. Technical
fouls--Texas A&M-Commerce-None, Texas A&M-Kingsville-None. A-175
