KINGSVILLE, Texas - A season-high five blocks from freshman Devon Williams (Gonzales, Texas) and 16 points off the bench from junior transfer Mia Cherry (Brock, Texas) served as the anchor point for the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball program on Friday in a six-point Lone Star Conference win over Cameron at the Steinke Physical Education Center at 77-71.

MICHAEL MADRID POSTGAME INTERVIEW | MIA CHERRY POSTGAME INTERVIEW

The win for the Javelinas (5-6, 5-6 LSC) pushed them one higher than their total from 2019-20 with seven scheduled games remaining while sending the Aggies (3-4, 3-4 LSC) below the .500 mark.

Williams put away four of her blocks in the first half and added seven points and nine rebounds off the bench. It is the most blocks in a game by a Javelina since the 2016-17 season when Angelica Wilson also put up five off the bench in a 63-52 loss to No. RV/RV Eastern New Mexico on January 19 at home.

Classmate Veyda Lake (Houston, Texas) added the other two blocks to push the team total to seven, while also pouring in seven points and two assists. The seven blocks as a team are the most since 2018-19 when TAMUK tabbed eight against Tarleton on February 2, also at the SPEC.

Cherry's 16 points came courtesy of a 5-for-14 look from the field with three long-range buckets and a trio from the charity stripe. She also posted four assists, one rebound and one steal to her total.

Junior Brianna Pena (Weslaco, Texas) ended up in double digits again for the 10th time in 11 games, posting 11 on a 4-for-10 clip. Freshman Annelise Dominguez (El Paso, Texas) added 10 of her own to go with three rebounds, and fellow newcomer Janessa Payne (Aledo, Texas) rounded out the look with nine points and 11 rebounds, posting a new team season-high on the boards.

The visitors opened up an early six-point cushion just ahead of the first media timeout at 11-5. A mid-range jumper and a pair of shots from the charity stripe from Cherry cut the deficit back to one possession before a jumper from Pena and a trey from Dominguez put the hosts up 14-13 late in the quarter.

Three of Williams' blocks came in the opening frame as she stuffed back-to-back looks around the three-minute mark and swatted away one more in the waning moments of the stanza as TAMUK held a 19-17 advantage heading into the second.

Williams' fourth rejection came at the start of the quarter despite the Aggies pulling ahead with a jumper from Lakya Leslie and a triple from Delecia Brown. They ended up with a five-point lead not long after before Pena and Lake teamed up to put the Blue and Gold back ahead at 25-24 around the six-minute mark.

Both sides settled into a back-and-forth affair from there before a key three-pointer from freshman Jayde Tschritter (Corpus Christi, Texas) past the midpoint gave TAMUK a 29-26 edge. A contested layup in the paint from senior Anastacia Mickens (Beaumont, Texas) and a fastbreak layup from Pena not long after pushed the lead to six as both sides stared at a 38-36 score favoring the Blue and Gold heading into the break.

A quick seven-point outburst from the Javelinas was in store at the start of the third that grew the gap to 45-38 by the five-minute mark. The Aggies soon whittled the cushion down to two and ended up ahead at 50-49 in the final minute, but a pair of dagger threes from Tschritter were quickly served up and the scoreboard favored the hosts at 55-50 heading into the fourth.

TAMUK never relinquished the lead in the final 10 minutes of play, pushing the advantage to 69-60 by the media timeout and using six freebies en route to the final.

The second half of the weekend twofer is on tap for Saturday, January 30, with tip-off set for 2 p.m. at the SPEC.

POSTGAME HIGHLIGHTS

Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy. To keep up-to-date with Javelina Women's Basketball, follow the program on Facebook /JavelinaWBB or Twitter @Javelina_WBB

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