SAN ANTONIO – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball program came out of the gates firing on all cylinders on Wednesday at Greehey Arena, but couldn't maintain the momentum as St. Mary's came away with a 71-57 decision to bring the non-conference portion of TAMUK's 2018-19 schedule to a close.

"I thought our kids really battled tonight," said head coach Wade Scott. "We had a couple of breakdowns on offense and defense at crucial times that hurt us, but overall I was pleased with our effort and thought the energy was good."

Senior Cloe Lane (Kansas City, Mo.) led the Javelinas (3-7) with 18 points and was just shy of her first double-double with nine rebounds, while the Rattlers (10-2) were led by the duo of Soteria Banks and Kaitlin Walla as the two combined for 35 points in the contest.

The squads traded buckets to open the first quarter, keeping the game tied at 11 apiece at 4:31 courtesy of a driving layup from redshirt freshman Bri-Anna Soliz (San Angelo, Texas) before the Javelinas scored nine of the final 13 points for a 20-15 lead heading into the second. Sophomore Ravae Payne (Pearland, Texas) provided the exclamation point for the visitors with a trey at the buzzer to keep the Blue and Gold ahead.

TAMUK maintained a seven-point lead to open the following frame before a scoring drought took hold at the 8:51 mark with the Javelinas ahead at 25-18. The Rattlers connected for 12 straight points to swing the lead back their way before Lane ended the run with a driving layup at the 5:20 mark to keep the Blue and Gold close behind at 30-27.

The Javelinas returned the run to wrap up the first half as Soliz sank one of her free throws with seven seconds remaining to keep TAMUK up 34-33 going into the locker rooms.

Fortune turned quickly on the Javelinas in the third as StMU took ahold of the lead at 7:34 with a jumper from Walla to set the score at 38-36 and never gave it back throughout the remainder of the contest. Junior Brynae Thompson (Houston, Texas) kept TAMUK within one possession behind a pair of free throws at 5:22 for a 42-39 line score, but the Rattlers rebuilt the lead to five and methodically extended the cushion to nine at 54-45 heading into the final stanza.

The Javelinas closed the gap to within eight at 4:30 in the fourth with a jumper from Payne to put the score at 61-53 before the Rattlers put the lead back at double digits en route to the 71-57 final.

Lane's 18 points and nine rebounds were courtesy of a 6-for-16 clip from the field. Thompson added nine points and five rebounds to TAMUK's total, while Soliz finished with six points and eight boards.

The Javelinas will resume Lone Star Conference play this weekend when they host Texas Woman's at 2 p.m. in 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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