KINGSVILLE, Texas – Down by 11 in the second half, the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team (0-12, 0-2 LSC) nearly came back to force overtime against Texas A&M-Commerce (6-5, 1-1 LSC).
Kyra Bauer's three-pointer from the left wing was off the mark as the Lions escaped with a 68-65 victory at Gil H. Steinke Physical Education Center-Kingsville Hampton Inn Court on Thursday night.
"We changed our defense and executed better on offense in the second half," said head coach
Wade Scott. "If we get off to a little better start and have more consistency in the first half then we will be fine."
Trailing 51-40 at the midpoint of second period,
Alexis Copeland nailed a three-pointer and
Lauren Jay followed with back-to-back treys in less than a minute to decrease A&M-C's lead to 51-49. A three from the Lions' Ashlee Johnson started them on an 11-2 run.
Micah Weaver sunk two free throws and Bauer made a layup to bookend an A&M-C turnover as their disadvantage fell to five with 1:21 to play. After a couple of mistakes by both teams,
Ope Ibrahim made two charity stripe attempts 32 seconds later to cut the score to 66-63.
Both teams traded fouls and the Lions went 1-for-2 at the line to increase their lead to four. Bauer then drove the entire length of the court for a layup to make it 67-65. A&M-C repeated their 1-of-2 performance at the free throw line to keep the Blue and Gold's hopes alive but Bauer's three at the buzzer was off the mark.
Following a Lion free throw for the first point of the game, Bauer nailed a three-pointer to give the Javelinas an early 3-1 lead. They stretched their advantage to three following a jumper by Weaver with a little over four minutes off the clock.
A&M-C scored five straight to take the lead until
Michelle Wagner hit a three from the right wing to put TAMUK up 15-13 at the 11:48 mark.
The Lions countered with an 8-0 run over a 3:36 span that was stopped by a long-distance shot from
Ashley Viera.
After the teams traded multiple baskets, A&M-C had a chance to take a nine-point lead into the break but missed a shot as the shot clock was winding down. Jay retrieved the rebound and was fouled hard to go to the line to shot 1-and-1. She nailed both for the final points of the half that cut the Blue and Gold's deficit to 31-26.
Jay paced TAMUK with 16 points and was one of four players along with
Ruby Robertson, Bauer and Ibrahim that grabbed a team-high six rebounds. Defensively, Jay blocked two shots for the second straight game and recorded two steals as well.
Wagner scored 11 points and Bauer contributed 10 while Robertson set a career-high with four assists.
As a team, the Javelinas shot 35.6 percent for the game but went 13-for-31 (41.9 percent) from the field in the second half including # three-pointers. TAMUK was outrebounded 42-38 but held A&M to only two offensive boards in the second half after allowing 12 in the first 20 minutes.
Next up for the Blue and Gold is a trip to Tarleton State Saturday night at 5:30 p.m.
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