DENVER - The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball program was caught in a close battle with MSU Denver on Thursday at the Auraria Events Center but failed to crest the hill en route to a 50-44 loss in the non-conference matchup.
"I thought, defensively, we played well overall," said head coach Michael Madrid. "MSU Denver is an extremely well-coached team and will be in the South Central Regional before long.
"I have to do a better job helping us offensively. We are struggling to find an identity on that end of the floor. We will regroup and prepare for a solid UC Colorado Springs team tomorrow."
The Javelinas (1-1) trailed by one in the waning minutes to the Roadrunners (2-1) but couldn't push past their hosts and ended up on the backend of the decision.
The slow-going first quarter saw freshman Jayde Tschritter (Corpus Christi, Texas) pick up a couple of treys as the sides were evened at 11-11 after 10 minutes. She picked up two more in the second while the sophomore duo of Georgia Ohiaeri (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Kryslyn Jones (Edmond, Okla.) added nine combined points for a slim 25-24 edge at the break.
The Javelinas built up an eight-point cushion by the midpoint of the second stanza before the Roadrunners closed the half on a 13-4 run.
The low-scoring affair continued coming out of the locker rooms as the hosts took over the lead at 37-34 going into the fourth. Ohaieri teamed up with the freshman pair of Mia Rivers (College Station, Texas) and Janessa Payne (Aledo, Texas) from the field while Rivers poured in two from the charity stripe.
The final quarter saw the Javelinas trail the rest of the way as they cut the gap to a single point twice but couldn't overcome the Roadrunners en route to the 50-44 final. A midrange jumper from senior Anastacia Mickens (Beaumont, Texas) set the score at 37-36 with barely a minute gone by, while a trey from junior Mia Cherry (Brock, Texas) trimmed the disadvantage to 42-41 right after the midpoint; both attempts were thwarted by buckets from MSUD.
Tschritter finished with 12 points as she shot 4-of-5 from long range and added four rebounds and a steal. Ohiaeri added eight points and a pair of helpers, while Rivers finished with seven points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
The Javelinas continue their trek through the Rockies with a matchup against UC Colorado Springs on Friday, November 19, with tipoff set for 6:30 p.m. CT at the Gallogly Events Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
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