KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball program rode a 20-3 run between the first two quarters on Saturday at the Steinke Physical Education Center and came away with the first win of the year at 61-37 over Chadron State to close the LSC/RMAC Crossover.

"Overall I thought the team responded well and bounced back from yesterday," said head coach Wade Scott. "It was a great team effort and I thought everybody did a great job.

"We need to build on this and get better every game. We let the lead dwindle a bit so we just need to learn how to close a team out when we get them down."

The Javelinas (1-1), added a 15-0 run in the third quarter over Eagles (1-1) to come away with the 24-point win to wrap up the crossover.

Junior Brynae Thompson (Houston, Texas) opened the scoring with a driving layup at the 8:47 mark of the first quarter and the Eagles were quick to match minutes later. A 5-5 score showed on the board before junior transfer Rachel Tapps (Cypress, Texas) ignited the first run at 4:53 with a driving layup of her own.

TAMUK quickly spread the wealth around as Tapps and classmate Victoria Salinas (Corpus Christi, Texas) each had five points in the run. Newcomer Bridget Upton (George West, Texas) added four of her own, and the trio of Thompson, sophomore Nicole Hutchins (Berowra, Australia) and junior Danielle Meador (Corpus Christi, Texas) each had two for a 25-8 Javelina lead when the dust settled.

CSC closed the gap to five at the start of the third after TAMUK held a seven-point lead at halftime, but the Blue and Gold were quick to respond with their second long run of the game after Hutchins dropped a mid-range jumper at 8:32 of the stanza to start the rally.

Salinas followed up with an and-one at 6:51 and sandwiched Meador's and-one with a trey at the 5:25 mark for a 16-point lead. Four more shots from the charity stripe helped put the cushion at 40-20 with 4:34 to play before the Eagles finally snapped the run with a Jessica Harvey free throw at 3:03.

The Javelinas never let the lead dip below 12 through the remainder of the contest and closed the game on a 15-3 run for the 61-37 final.

Thompson led all scorers with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 mark from beyond the arc.

Salinas hit 50% of her shots in the game and added one from the line for 11 total points to go with six rebounds, while Meador tallied 10 with a 6-for-6 showing from the charity stripe to round out the top scorers.

Hutchins added six rebounds of her own to go with five points and a block, while senior Cloe Lane (Kansas City, Mo.) totaled five points and five steals to wrap her weekend of play.

The Javelinas will remain at home next week as they host regional foe St. Mary's (TX) on Tuesday, November 13, with tipoff at 5:30 p.m. at the SPEC.

To keep up-to-date with Javelina Women's Basketball, follow the program on Facebook /JavelinaWBB or on Twitter @TAMUKwbb

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