KINGSVILLE, Texas – A furious rally to erase a 15-point deficit in the final minutes of the fourth quarter fell short on Saturday at the Steinke Physical Education Center, as the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball program had a desperation heave from senior Cloe Lane (Kansas City, Mo.) miss the mark at the buzzer and allowed Western New Mexico to escape with the decision at 62-59 in Lone Star Conference play.

The Javelinas (9-16, 6-12 LSC) used a contested layup from redshirt freshman Bri-Anna Soliz (San Angelo, Texas) to ignite a 15-2 run over the span of 2:58 in the final frame, but couldn't find the winning combination as the Mustangs (10-15, 6-12 LSC) held on at the line to lock TAMUK into a tie for the eighth seed for the LSC Tournament with one week remaining in conference play.

Soliz led the Blue and Gold with 15 points and fell just one rebound short of her fourth double-double of the year as she ended with nine alongside three blocks. The San Angelo, Texas, native went 6-for-8 from the field to outshine the two seniors who were honored prior to the start of the contest.

Lane ended with nine points and four rebounds, while her counterpart Kristina Kana (Mont Belvieu, Texas) closed her career at the SPEC with four points, four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.

Both sides traded punches to start the contest before the Javelinas used a 6-0 microburst to turn an 11-10 margin into a 17-10 gap with 2:40 left in the first quarter. Lane poured in four of her six free throws while Soliz added a hard-fought layup to give the hosts a comfortable lead.

TAMUK held the advantage at 19-13 going into the second after sophomore Ravae Payne (Pearland, Texas) drained the midrange jumped in the final seconds, but a scoring drought plagued the Javelinas throughout the following frame as the visitors eventually whittled down the lead to a single point at 3:40 with a 23-22 score favoring the Blue and Gold.

WNMU closed the first half on an 11-2 run to flip the 25-22 mark on the scoreboard to 33-27 as the Javelinas suddenly found themselves in a deficit while heading into the locker rooms.

The Mustangs carried the momentum into the start of third and built the cushion up to 43-29 by the 6:11 mark of the stanza while TAMUK could only manage a pair of points in that span. The disadvantage hovered in the double digits through the rest of the quarter with the Blue and Gold facing an unfavorable 48-36 score going into the fourth.

The visitors maintained the double-digit cushion through the majority of the final frame before the Javelinas went on their run starting at the 3:18 mark. Soliz put up five points in the run, Payne and junior Rachel Tapps (Cypress, Texas) both added four while Kana added the final two to setup a hard-fought finish in the last 38 seconds of the game.

The Mustangs got a pair of free throws from Sara Lopez to keep the score at two possessions with 60-56 showing on the board, while a critical and-one from Tapps just three seconds later set the stage for a final possession from TAMUK.

Another pair of free throws from Lopez put the deficit back at three and a deep shot attempt from Lane missed by mere inches as the Javelinas suffered the 62-59 setback to enter into a virtual tie with WNMU in the LSC standings.

Following the weekend of play, TAMUK and the Mustangs are currently fighting for the eighth seed with a 6-12 mark for both in LSC play, while Texas Woman's sits in the seventh spot at 7-11 and MSU Texas owns the sixth seed at 8-10.

TWU will face No. 17 West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico in the final week of conference play, the Javelinas will visit MSU Texas and Cameron to close the regular season, and WNMU will host Tarleton and A&M-Commerce in the decisive weekend.

The Blue and Gold will square off with CU first on February 28 in Lawton, Okla., at 5:30 p.m. CT, before taking on MSU Texas in Wichita Falls, Texas, on March 2 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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