AUSTIN, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women’s basketball team, 7-20 a year ago, have now won seven of their last eight games after beating Texas A&M International on Saturday afternoon at the St. Edward’s Christmas Tournament, 83-75.   (box score)

The Javelinas (7-4) fell behind by as many as 12 points in the first half as the Dustdevils (3-8) came out firing on all cylinders.  TAMIU had five different players knock down a three-pointer in the first 8:28 of the game to give them a 23-11 lead.  The Dustdevils finished the game 13-of-27 from behind the arc.

The Javelinas started to hit their stride midway through the first half when the trio of LaKeisha Jones (Winnsboro, LA/Crowville HS), Ursula Hill (Cypress/Cy-Fair HS) and Dyana Bullinger (Spring/Klein HS) proved to be unstoppable on the offensive end.  The Javs closed to within 40-33 with three minutes to play in the half when the offense went into over drive.  Over the final 2:55 the Hoggies scored 15 points and closed the half on a 10-0 run that gave them a 48-42 halftime lead.

The second half began with three-pointers by Felicia Soza (Beeville/A.C. Jones HS) and Hill to make it a 12-point Javelina lead.  The first 15 points of the second half all came on three-pointers for the Javs.  The lead ballooned to 18 points midway through the final period and the Dustdevils would never threaten again.  The final eight point deficit is a little misleading due to the fact that TAMIU knocked down two meaningless three-pointers in the final 30 seconds.

Jones, the Javs’ senior center, led all players with 24 points in the game on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor and an 8-of-9 performance at the foul line.  She added eight rebounds and was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player after averaging 22 points and nine boards in the two games.

Hill, the Kingsville point guard, had an interesting game as she did not make any of her six two-point field goal attempts, but knocked down all five of her three-point attempts en route to a 17-point performance.  She added six rebounds, three assists and two steals and was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Bullinger was the only other Javelina scoring in double figures as she had one of her best games of the season.  She had 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.  Tammi Mitchell (Tyler/John Tyler HS) added eight points, four rebounds and four assists off the bench.  The Javs shot 49 percent from the field, made 11-of-19 three-point attempts and were 22-of-26 at the foul line.  They out rebounded the Dustdevils by an enormous 45-22 margin.

TAMIU was led by Mary Tobias who knocked down four three-pointers and scored 19 points.  Krystal Manning and Jasmine June added 14 and 13 points, respectively.  Despite shooting 48.1 percent from three-point range, the Dustdevils shot just 39.7 percent from the field.  They made 8-of-12 free throws in the game.  They did force the Javs into 24 turnovers while committing only eight of their own.

The Javelinas are now off until January 3 when they host University of Central Oklahoma at 2 o’clock in the Steinke Center.
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