KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball program started off strong in the Lone Star Conference matchup against A&M-Commerce on Thursday at the Steinke Physical Education center, but couldn't maintain the pace as the visitors came away with the 91-57 decision to tip off the back half of the conference schedule.

"I thought our kids played hard tonight," said head coach Wade Scott. "They battled and we had to overcome a few adversities during the middle of the game that, no matter how much you prepare for them, things still happen.

"Lidia [Guiral] and Ravae [Payne] did a good job off the bench for us as they had to play a lot of minutes for us and did the best they could."

The Javelinas (8-10, 5-6 LSC) fell behind by 11 at the break before the Lions (13-6, 8-3 LSC) pulled away in the second half courtesy of a 38-point third quarter.

TAMUK started off strong with a fastbreak layup from senior Cloe Lane (Kansas City, Mo.) to open the scoring at 8:33, while sophomore Ravae Payne (Pearland, Texas) dropped in a pair of driving layups for a 6-2 advantage by the 6:23 mark.

The Lions quickly closed the gap from there and forced a knotted score at 8-8 with 4:43 remaining in the opening stanza, while a runner from Lane and a trey from classmate Kristina Kana (Mont Belvieu, Texas) kept the Blue and Gold close behind at 14-13 with under a minute to play in the first.

TAMUC converted a 15-14 advantage into a 25-14 cushion behind a 10-0 run to start the second. The Javelinas ended the drought with a handful of free throws from Lane before junior Lidia Guiral (Fraga, Spain) drained the contested layup at 5:11 in the second to keep the Blue and Gold within striking distance at 30-20.

The Lions were limited to three points through the remainder of the half but the Javelinas failed to take advantage of the lull and faced 33-22 deficit heading into the locker rooms.

A&M-Commerce opened the third with a trey from Chania Wright and kept the pace up to put the hosts in a 20-point hole by the 3:23 mark of the frame.

The visitors maintained the torrid pace and eventually held a 30-point edge at 71-41 going into the fourth and never looked back en route to the 91- 57 final.

Lane led the Javelinas with 18 points on a 6-for-15 clip, adding three rebounds, two assists and one steal in the process.

Payne poured in 13 points off the bench on a 4-9 clip and added four rebounds of her own.

The Blue and Gold will wrap up the weekend with their first Throwback Game on Saturday, February 2, when Tarleton pays a visit to the SPEC starting at 2 p.m. CT.

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

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