SAN ANGELO, Texas – Sadie Russell scored a season-high 11 points and Angelica Wilson contributed 10, but the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team was handed an 86-66 defeat by the Oklahoma Christian Eagles on Friday night at the Angelo State University Thanksgiving Classic inside the Stephens Arena at The Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas.
For Wilson, this makes four straight games she's scored in double figures. She also collected eight rebounds, a total matched by Tatyana McFarland and Ope Ibrahim and represented a team-high.
TAMUK held an edge in bench points, 37-35, as well as points off turnovers, 17-13.
FIRST QUARTER
Buckets by each side in the early going tied the game at two, but Wilson knocked down consecutive jumpers to put TAMUK in front by four. Maddison Collyer brought the Eagles within two, but Wilson answered with a pair of foul shots for an 8-4 lead. Brynae Thompson followed that with a basket and Emmeri Archer added two free throws, moving the Javs ahead by eight.
Oklahoma Christian responded with a 14-0 run to take the lead, getting a three-point-play from Hope Dawkins and a pair of scores from Delyssa Miller in the process. Two free throws allowed the Javs to close within four as the quarter expired.
SECOND QUARTER
Ibrahim cut that deficit to two by canning a jumper on the opening possession of the period, only to see the Addy Clift sink a triple. One free throw by each team made the score 22-17 and Tyra Peck added another triple to OCU's total for an eight-point advantage. Thompson drilled the first three of the day for TAMUK, which closed to within five, but less than 10 seconds later, Ali Christie converted from beyond the arc for the Eagles and Dawkins added one from the charity stripe.
Kingsville fought back thanks to McFarland, who sank a pair of jump shots and followed up the second one with a free throw for a three-point play. A minute later, McFarland tossed in another jumper and the score moved to 29-27 with 4:07 to go before the half. The deficit stayed at two when each team scored twice, then OCU stretched their lead to seven, as Hannah Bensten hit a bucket and Peck cashed in a triple.
The Javs responded with a 12-4 rally that allowed them to end the half with a lead. The run included a three-point play and a trey from Kristina Kana and a jumper by Jaiton Walls with four seconds on the clock to make the score 43-42 after 20 minutes of play.
THIRD QUARTER
The Eagles seized a 47-46 edge early in the third and scores by OCU and TAMUK made the score 49-48 with 6:18 on the clock. Clift's third three-pointer of the afternoon provided Oklahoma Christian with a four-point cushion. That lead shrunk to two following Ibrahim's third bucket, then grew to 12 as a result of a 10-0 burst. The period expired with the Eagles up, 64-53.
FOURTH QUARTER
Clift's fifth trey pushed her point total to 21 and the Oklahoma Christian lead to 14. The Hoggies got back to within 11 before seven straight points by the Eagles extended their lead to 18, putting the game out of reach for the Javelinas.
On Saturday, the Javelinas will play in their second and final game in the ASU Thanksgiving Classic and they'll by taking on the No. 14 team in the nation, Fort Lewis College. The game is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. and links to live video and stats can be found on Javelinaathletics.com. Receive content for Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball by following @TAMUKWBB on Twitter and Instagram, liking the official Facebook page of Javelina athletics (/JavelinaSports), and subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel.
