KINGSVILLE, Texas – Brynae Thompson hit seven triples and piled up a season-high 25 points, but the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team fell just short of upsetting the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions, 81-78, on Saturday night at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
Thompson hit all seven of her three-point attempts, the best percentage from beyond the arc in a game for any player in program history with more than five attempts. In 2008, Ursula Hill was a perfect five-for-five from three point land, but Thompson is the first Javelina to match Hill's percentage with at least six shots.
Angelica Wilson contributed her third straight double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Antoinette Shrepee accumulated 16 points, her second-highest total this year.
The first quarter involved seven different lead changes, the final one coming on a three by Brianna Wise with under 90 seconds remaining. Emmeri Archer tied things at 15 with a jumper, but Princess Davis canned a triple at the buzzer for an 18-15 lead.
The second quarter started with a basket for each side, the Javelina offense then caught fire, starting with a three-point play from Wilson to tie the score. A layup from Shaq Debose put TAMUK in front, Thompson then proceeded to hit a three and Shrepee added a layup. Another bucket from Wilson upped the score to 29-20. Jocelyn Pierce tried to blunt the momentum with a jumper, only to see two Thompson foul shots, a trey from Shrepee and a TAMUK free throw drop Commerce to 13 points behind. All totaled, the home team scored 20 of the second quarter's first 24 points. The Lions closed out the half with a 9-2 rally that included one bucket from Davis and two from Wise, all from beyond the arc.
In the second half, Commerce quickly went work chipping away at their 40-31 deficit. They started with eight consecutive points, capped by another long distance basket by Davis. Shaq Debose matched that feat just over 30 seconds later, but with 5:22 left in the period, the Lions were back within one. TAMUC tied the game at 52 with 1:52 on the clock and evened the score twice more after that before two foul shots by Jenna Price just before the third quarter buzzer gave the visitors a 57-55 edge.
Commerce quickly built momentum in the final quarter and jetted off on a 13-2 run to go ahead by 13. Kingsville responded with 10 of the next 12 points to get the score to 72-67 and, with 2:25 left to play, they'd crept to only four points behind at 78-74. Two free throws from Wilson followed by a steal by Shrepee and a foul sent the junior at the charity stripe, where she buried both attempts to put the teams side-by-side at 78 with the clock reading 1:04. The Lions' answer, however, came 11 seconds later, when Wise tossed in a layup. Kingsville had three chances to tie the game, but all three shots were off the mark, allowing the visitors to hold on.
The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs are now waiting for a visit from the Javelinas, who will be in Canyon on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off. You can receive content for Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball, you can follow @TAMUKWBB on Twitter and Instagram, like the official Facebook page of Javelina athletics (/JavelinaSports) and subscribe to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel.
