TYLER, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team fell victim to the UT Tyler Patriots, 70-63, in Lone Star Conference action at the Herrington Patriot Center in Tyler, Texas on Saturday.
"I thought we played extremely well defensively the first 20 minutes and then didn't finish," said coach
Michael Madrid. "I need to do a better job of preparing us to play a full 40 minutes on both ends of the floor. I didn't do that today. We will watch film, execute better and prepare for our next game."
A potent second-half effort propelled the Patriots (13-4, 6-2 LSC) past the Javelinas (13-6, 6-2 LSC), despite a double-double performance from freshman
Devon Williams (Gonzales, Texas)
Williams logged 13 points, going 6-10 from the field while leading the contest in rebounds, grabbing 12. Additionally, the Gonzales native logged three blocks and two assists in 31 minutes on the floor.
The contest featured impressive guard play by sophomore
Kryslyn Jones (Edmond, Okla.) and freshman
Mia Rivers (College Station, Texas). Jones led the Javelinas in points scored with 15, courtesy of five three-pointers. Rivers meanwhile drained three triples for nine points, tying with Jones for the game-lead in assists at six.
Senior
Anastacia Mickens (Beaumont, Texas) also recorded double-digit scoring numbers for the fifth time this season, notching 13 points at a 50% clip to go with three rebounds and an assist.
The Patriots struck first, scoring the first bucket of the game before Jones and junior
Brianna Pena (Weslaco, Texas) kickstarted an 8-2 run, each hitting a three-pointer. UT Tyler evened the game at 12 a-piece knocking down two triples of their as the teams continued to trade buckets throughout the quarter. A Pena jumper late in the frame broke the deadlock, handing TAMUK a 17-15 lead.
UT Tyler gained a 23-22 edge at the start of the second before Rivers nailed back-to-back three-pointers in the span of a minute, earning a five-point Blue and Gold lead. Williams sunk a layup to end the half, stretching TAMUK's advantage to five as they headed to the locker room up 42-37.
Jones hit another triple early in the third, providing the Javelinas their largest margin of the day at 38-30 before UTT whittled down the TAMUK edge, ending the quarter on an 11-4 run to take a 53-52 lead.
An 8-0 Patriot spurt to open the fourth put the Javelinas down 61-52, with 5:45 remaining in the contest. Williams, then nailed a triple kickstarting a 9-0 Javelina run that saw a 61-61 tie going into the final media timeout. UTT answered back quickly, however, hitting a pair of three-pointers providing a deficit TAMUK couldn't overcome.
Next week, the Javelinas head back to the Steinke Physical Education Center for a Thursday night Gold Rush contest against St. Edwards before donning throwback jerseys on Saturday while they face St. Mary's. To keep up-to-date with Javelina Women's Basketball, follow the program on Facebook
/JavelinaWBB or Twitter
@Javelina_WBB.
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