Kingsville - The Kingsville women's basketball team took down Texas A&M International in Laredo, 74-50, to improve to 4-1 and start Lone Star Conference play with a win behind its season-high scoring effort.
The Javelinas held the Dustdevils to 50 points and 37% from the field and four players reached double figures in the scoring column.
'I thought at times, we were really, really good in the way that we played, and at times, we kind of got away from the things that we were doing," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "That's a credit to International and their pressure - forcing us to make some decisions with the ball that we normally don't make, so overall solid effort."
Freshman guard
Logan Borchardt led the team with a season-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting, as well as five rebounds, and an assist. She scored 10 of her points in the third quarter, including a personal 8-0 run to end the third quarter. Behind Borchardt, junior guard
Aina Maynou played 39 minutes and scored 15 points while junior forward
Shelby Ray collected 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two blocks.Â
"That's one of the things we talk to the players about - at some point, you're going to help us win a game," Madrid said. "You may not be playing a lot of minutes now, but somewhere you're going to help us win a game. And to see four players in double figures - Janessa sitting almost in double figures - you know, they spread the ball pretty well, they found each other, and I thought Logan kind of took over down the stretch a bit."
Kingsville scored at least 20 points in three different quarters and held International to single-digit points in both the first and third quarters. TAMIU made just three threes all game, and shot just 23% from behind the long line.
"We play hard on the defensive end of the floor, we want to kind of hang our hat on that end of the floor," Madrid said. "I haven't been real happy with the way we've defended the three-point line so far this year, I thought we did a little bit better today."
While International made its runs throughout the game, TAMUK built its big lead early, and responded to each of the Dustdevils' runs in turn throughout the game. The team shot 73% from the field in the first quarter and rained in four threes. All four were made in a row, forming a 12-0 run in favor of Kingsville to end the first frame. Sophomore forward
Kaycee Groves hit the first, followed by one each from senior forward
Janessa Payne, Maynou, and Ray.
While the win starts LSC play for both teams, Kingsville will have another two weeks before it starts its conference slate in earnest. The team has yet to play a regular season game at home this year, and has started 4-1 - the Javelinas' best start since 2015-16.
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