PORTALES, N.M. – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball program started off the contest close with Eastern New Mexico on Thursday at the Greyhound Arena, but fell behind late in the second quarter and couldn't recover en route to an 80-64 loss in Lone Star Conference play.

The Javelinas (8-14, 5-10 LSC) fell behind to the Greyhounds (17-6, 12-3 LSC) following a 15-0 run starting at the 5:40 mark of the second quarter to end up on the backend of the decision.

Both sides traded buckets in the early goings of the contest as ENMU held the early lead at 7-4 by the 6:05 mark of the opening quarter. TAMUK stormed back to take a 9-7 lead capped by a midrange jumper from junior Brynae Thompson (Houston, Texas) and maintained a three-point cushion at 1:59 when the Cy-Fair H.S. product drained her first triple.

The Greyhounds quickly followed with six straight points, sparked by Treyanna Clay's jumper with 1:53 showing, an eventually put the Javelinas in a 17-13 deficit going into the second.

A trey from Zamorye Cox opened the scoring in the ensuing stanza as the Blue and Gold used a long-range shot from senior Cloe Lane (Kansas City, Mo.) trimmed the host's lead down to four at 21-17 with 7:42 remaining on the clock.

Meanwhile, another three-ball from Thompson at 6:32 triggered a scoring drought from the visitors as TAMUK was held without a point over the next 3:59 of game time. The Greyhounds used the time to build the line score up to 40-20 before a layup from sophomore Ravae Payne (Pearland, Texas) broke the scoreless streak with 2:33 to play in the half.

Lane and Payne both added one final bucket in the frame but the Javelinas faced a 40-26 deficit going into the locker rooms.

The second half started off much of the same with ENMU matching TAMUK shot-for-shot. The Javelinas got within 11 points of the lead at 4:51 when Lane converted a Greyhound turnover into a driving layup for a 51-40 line score, but the hosts responded with a layup from Tilasha Okey on the ensuing possession and quickly rebuilt the lead back to 15.

A layup from junior Rachel Tapps (Cypress Ranch, Texas) became the final points of the third quarter but the Blue and Gold faced the task of a 61-47 deficit going into the final frame.

The Javelinas once against trimmed the deficit to 11 a handful of times in the fourth quarter, but couldn't overcome the gap en route to the 80-64 final.

Thompson returned to form and finished with 18 points on a 6-for-11 clip from the floor, adding four rebounds in the process. Lane poured in 16 points on a 7-for-13 mark from the field along with five rebounds and a block.

Junior Danielle Meador (Corpus Christi, Texas) rounded out the trio with eight points, going 6-of-7 from the charity stripe, along with a team-best eight rebounds.

The Javelinas will go for the season sweep of No. 20 West Texas A&M on Saturday as tip off in Canyon, Texas, is set for 2 p.m. CT at the First United Bank Center.

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

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