KINGSVILLE, Texas – Angelica Wilson collected her 13th double-double of the season and the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team held the Western New Mexico Mustangs to a shooting percentage of 26.7% on their way to a 70-42 romp on Thursday night at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
This win puts TAMUK's record at 7-20 and 4-15 in the Lone Star Conference. The Mustangs now own marks of 1-26 and 1-17.
The 28-point margin of victory is the largest for the Javelinas this season. They outrebounded their visitors, 41-31, and were plus-five in turnover margin. Every Javelina that saw the floor hit at least one shot.
After early buckets by each team put the score at 2-2, the Hoggies took the lead at the 8:17 mark and never gave it up. A triple by Sadie Russell put Kingsville in front before the teams went scoreless for nearly two minutes. Russell upped the lead to five with a layup, but the Mustangs answered with a three-point play by Ciara Fields. Foul shots pushed TAMUK's lead back to five and a pair of buckets by Victoria Salinas made the score 14-5 at the end of one.
The second quarter began with over two minutes of staunch defense that kept the score frozen before Kristina Kana canned consecutive threes, putting the Javs ahead by double digits for the first time. After two free throws by Melody McLaughlin, Wilson converted a three-point play. The teams exchanged two-pointers before Shaq Debose sunk a jumper and Wilson added another layup, putting the home team ahead 29-9 and Kingsville would carry that 20-point advantage into halftime, leading 33-13.
The Javelinas held the Mustangs to 4-of-26 from the floor in the first half, a percentage of 15.3. WNMU also went 0-of-11 from beyond the arc.
In the second half, the story remained largely the same, as, after Jade Botelho opened the period with a layup, TAMUK scored the next seven points, three of them coming on a triple by Emmeri Archer. The Mustangs tried to answer back with five straight points, but the response from the Hoggies came in the form of another 7-0 burst, which Brynae Thompson capped with a trey, increasing their lead to 51-25. WNMU moved two points closer before the quarter ended with the score 55-31.
The fourth period started the same way the third did, with Botelho sinking a layup, but once again the Javs followed with seven straight points, a rally that saw Ope Ibrahim contribute a three-point play, pushing the home team's advantage to 29. The rest of the night saw the squads alternating free throws before Antoinette Shrepee closed the scoring with a last-second jumper.
One last hurrah remains for Wade Scott and his Javelinas. They host Eastern New Mexico on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 4 p.m. You can 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.
