KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball program featured a fresh set of faces on the court to start the 2018-19 campaign, but couldn't convert a win in the season opener as No. 22 Black Hills State came away with a 48-40 decision in the LSC/RMAC Crossover on Friday at the Steinke Physical Education Center.

"The second quarter hurt us but I liked the team's competitiveness in the second half," said head coach Wade Scott. "They battled back from adversity though I wish we could've avoided the late defensive breakdowns to give us a few more possessions.

"Overall I'm pleased with the team. We have 10 new faces playing with each other and they did a good job against a good Black Hills State team that is returning a lot of players and who made the plays when they needed to."

The Javelinas (0-1) fell behind 23-11 at halftime to the Yellowjackets (1-0), narrowed the gap to six in the second half, but couldn't find the final push as the visitors took away the decision in the 2018-19 opener.

Junior Brynae Thompson (Houston, Texas) started the scoring for the Javelinas with a running jumper in the lane at the start of the contest, followed by a free throw from classmate Rachel Tapps (Cypress, Texas) for a 3-2 lead by the 8:50 mark of the frame.

BHSU took the lead and never gave it back on a layup from Remi Wientjes with 8:40 remaining at 4-3 and extended it to 8-3 at the 5:14 mark before the Blue and Gold closed in.

Back-to-back layups from Tapps and newcomer Bridget Upton (George West, Texas) narrowed the gap to one at 8-7 with 3:33 remaining before the visitors extended the lead to five heading into the second quarter on the heels of an 8-4 stretch to close out the frame.

Black Hills State utilized a 12-1 run starting from the late portion of the first quarter throughout the rest of the half to take a 23-11 lead into the locker rooms. The Javelinas were held scoreless in the second quarter, missing on all 14 attempts in the stanza en route to the 12-point deficit at halftime.

TAMUK outscored BHSU in the third quarter, 12-9, getting five from senior Cloe Lane (Kansas City, Mo.) and four from Thompson, but still faced a 32-23 deficit heading into the final quarter.

The Blue and Gold got as close as six at the start of the final quarter when junior Victoria Salinas (Corpus Christi, Texas) drilled a trey at 9:47, but the lead proved too much to overcome as the Yellowjackets built the lead back to 13 at the midpoint and never looked back to a 48-40 final.

Lane finished with nine points powered by a 4-for-6 mark from the charity stripe, and added 11 rebounds in her Javelina debut. Thompson added eight points, while Tapps and junior Danielle Meador (Corpus Christi, Texas) each ended with five.

Lane and fellow newcomer Nicole Hutchins (Berowra, Australia) each had a pair of blocks in the game to go with one steal.

The Javelinas will have the second half of their LSC/RMAC Crossover on Saturday, November 10, when they host Chadron State for a 12 p.m. CT tipoff 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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