San Antonio - Less than 24 hours after falling by just a point to Oklahoma Baptist, the Kingsville women's basketball team got back in the win column with a 52-38 beatdown of the Shippensburg Raiders.
Kingsville used suffocating defense to get its fifth win on the season, improving to 5-2 before the start of the Javelinas' full slate of Lone Star Conference play. TAMUK allowed the Raiders to shoot just 32.5% from the field, make only one three all game, and commit 23 turnovers. The contest added to a young season in which Kingsville has hung its hat on that side of the ball. Through seven games, the Javelinas have allowed their opponents to shoot an average of 36.8% from the field and commit nearly 17 turnovers per game.
"Defense travels and we definitely played well on that end of the floor this weekend, especially when we didn't shoot as well as we would have liked," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said.
Senior
Abby Bala, playing in the final regular season non-Conference game of her career, dropped a season-high five dimes, and paired them with a game-high 13 points on just seven shots. She was one of two Javelinas to score in double figures against Shippensburg, the other being junior forward
Shelby Ray, who scored 11 points on three made threes. Ray also stuffed the stat sheet with six rebounds, two blocks, and two steals.
"We shared the ball well but had too many turnovers once again," Madrid said. "Our goal is always to have more than assists. Abby stepped into the lead guard role and did a great job of running our team today."
Right from the opening tip, Kingsville started hot. While the Raiders grabbed the game's first four points, the Javelinas allowed them to score just three more points in the first game, finishing the quarter on a 13-3 run.
That run extended into the second quarter, where TAMUK opened the frame on an 8-2 run. The team took an 11-point lead into halftime, having held Shippensburg to just 15 first-half points. The third quarter saw the Raiders fail to hit double-figures on the scoreboard for the third-straight period as Kingsville's stellar defensive play continued. Junior forward
Isabella Paradowski, senior forward
Veyda Lake, as well as Ray and Bala, each made a field goal for the Javelinas in the frame.
Despite being outscored in the fourth, TAMUK maintained its large lead until the final buzzer, leaving San Antonio and the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic with a win.
LSC play begins this coming weekend for Kingsville, who continues its long string of road games to start the season with contests in Angelo St. on Thursday and UT - Permian Basin on Saturday.
"We are coming together as a team and will continue to grow," Madrid said. "We have so much to improve upon and will get there. Conference is such a grind and you have to play one game at a time, one possession at a time. Anxious to see how good this team becomes."
