KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team (0-17, 0-7 LSC) recorded a season-high 18 steals in a 66-53 setback to Midwestern State (15-3, 6-2 LSC) Saturday afternoon in Gil H. Steinke Physical Education Center-Kingsville Hampton Inn Court.
Lauren Jay paced the Javelinas with a career-high six steals while five others had at least two.
The teams traded baskets to begin the game that saw
Ashley Viera nail a running jumper in the paint to knot the score 5-5.
After the Mustangs scored six straight, Jay caught a wild pass from a falling MSU player for an easy layup to kick start a 6-0 spurt for the Javelinas.
Alexis Copeland finished the scoring with a layup at the 14:21 mark to tie the game 11-11.
Back-to-back three-pointers began a 12-2 run to put the Mustangs back on top. Jay scored the lone points for the Blue and Gold on a jumper in the paint that rolled around the rim four times before dropping.
Viera made hit a jumper from eight feet away to pull TAMUK to within four with a little less than three and a half minutes until intermission.
MSU scored the final 10 of the final 11 points of the first 20-minute period to push their advantage to 33-20.
Both squads got off to slow starts in the second half. The first points for either team came on a fastbreak layup courtesy of
Micah Weaver with nearly two minutes off the clock.
Six straight points gave the Mustangs their biggest lead of the game at 39-22.
Down by 16 after a MSU free throw, the Javelinas went on a 12-4 run to close the deficit to single-digits.
Ruby Robertson scored seven points during the stretch with the rest coming from
Tonje Milde.
The visitors responded by scoring nine of the next 11 points to seal the game in their favor.
Robertson scored a team-high 13 points off the bench, all in the second stanza. She was 4-for-6 from the field and made all five of her free throw attempts. Also reaching double-figures was Viera with 11.
Jay paced the Blue and Gold with seven rebounds and dished out an assist. Both
Tessa Ramirez and Copeland dished out a team best two assists.
Copeland and Milde finished with three swipes apiece while Bauer, Robertson and Viera recorded two in the contest.
TAMUK forced the Mustangs into 28 turnovers with 18 coming as the result of a steal.
The Javelinas are back in action next Saturday against Angelo State at home. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
For full coverage of Javelina women's basketball, please follow @TAMUKWBB on Twitter and @JavelinaAthletics on Instagram, and like our Facebook page (Javelina Nation).
