KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – It was a tale of two halves on Saturday night in Lone Star Conference women’s basketball action between Texas A&M-Kingsville and #13 West Texas A&M. In the end, the Buffalos (17-3, 5-0) came out on top due to a jumper by Courtney Lee and a rebound by Holly Isaacs. (box score)
With the game tied at 61-61, Lee came off a screen and buried a 13-foot jumper in the lane with 58.6 seconds remaining to the give the Buffs the lead. The Javelinas (13-7, 3-2) worked the shot clock down, but missed a shot. Three Hoggie players were around the basket and Isaacs, the shortest player on the court, was the only Buff player nearby. Each Javelina mistimed their leaps while Isaacs went up at the right time to grab the rebound.
After the Buffs split two free throws with 25 seconds to play, the Javelinas had a chance to tie the game, but Dyana Bullinger’s (Spring/Klein HS) three-pointer came up just short.
In the first half, the Buffalos controlled the game for the majority of the time. The Javelinas made a few runs, but each time the Buffs and star guard Emily Brister had the answers. The Buffs forced the Javelinas into 18 first half turnovers that they turned into 16 points.
In the second half, the Hoggies started to hit their stride by knocking down a couple of three-pointers and cut the lead to four points with 16:40 remaining after a free throw by Felicia Soza (Beeville/A.C. Jones HS). A 12-4 run by the Buffalos quickly catapulted their lead to 12 points with 10:27 to play.
Over the next four minutes of action, the Javelinas shut down the Buffalo offense and went on a 12-0 run to tie the score at 53 all. The game would be nip and tuck the rest of the way.
The Javs took their first lead of the half on a Soza three-pointer with 4:40 remaining. The Buffs regained the lead with 3:32 left on two free throws by Brister. A Tammi Mitchell (Tyler/John Tyler HS) free throw tied the score for the Javs and they reclaimed the lead on a Bullinger lay-up with 1:52 left.
Lee tied the game at 61-61 for the Buffalos by knocking down two free throws with 1:33 to play and then gave West Texas the lead on their next possession which set the stage for the final moments of the ball game.
The Javelinas were led by Mitchell who scored 13 points and grabbed a career high nine rebounds off the bench. Angela Franklin (Vacaville, CA/Vanden HS) added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and LaKeisha Jones (Winnsboro, LA/Crowville HS) reached double figures with 10 points and seven rebounds. The Javs shot 38.0 percent from the floor, made 7-of-22 three-pointers and were 16-of-19 from the foul line. The key to the second half was the fact that the team committed only four turnovers in the final 20 minutes of play.
The Buffalos were led by their All-American, Brister. She had 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists while making 10-of-11 free throws. Lee finished with 11 points and five steals and Jamie Dreiling added 10 points and eight rebounds. The Buffs shot 38.5 percent from the field, made 4-of-10 three-pointers and went 20-for-25 at the foul line. They pulled down three more rebounds than the Javelinas and committed 19 turnovers.
The Javelinas are back in action on Wednesday at Angelo State at 6 o’clock.
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