San Angelo - The Kingsville women's basketball team fell, 58-53, on the road against Angelo State courtesy of a late-game push from the Rambelles.
The loss is the first one sustained by the Javelinas in Conference play so far this season, they fall to 1-1 in Lone Star Conference play and 5-3 overall.
"I didn't do a very good job of putting our players in position to score and get us into a flow offensively," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "I have to be better in games."
Despite the loss, Kingsville actually won the rebound battle, 39-37, and shot a higher percentage from both the field and behind the three-point line. Ultimately, it was the extra possessions Angelo State had, which they won via 17 offensive rebounds and 18 turnovers committed by the Javelinas, that led to TAMUK's loss. Madrid said many of the turnovers were unforced.
"Nothing was done to us to cause us to turn it over," Madrid said. "It was decisions we made."
Kingsville's offense struggled to begin the game, committing eight first quarter turnovers. After posting the first points of the game, courtesy of a triple from senior forward
Janessa Payne, Angelo responded with 11 straight, leading by as many as eight midway through the first quarter.
With just under four minutes left in the first frame, the Javelinas took the lid off the basket in a big way, scoring eight straight to tie up the game, punctuated by back-to-back buckets scored by senior guard
Abby Bala. Bala finished with a game-high 16 points along with four rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
The second quarter was where Bala and the Kingsville offense shined. The team out-scored the Rambelles 22-9 in the second frame, all 22 came from Bala, junior forwards
Alyssa O'Malley, and
Shelby Ray - none of them missed a shot in the quarter. O'Malley, who hadn't topped seven points in a game yet in the young season, scored 11 in the second quarter. The excellent frame gave Kingsville an 11-point halftime lead.
"Simply hit shots and took care of the ball, nothing special," Madrid said. "Basketball is such a simple game."
Points were much harder to come by in the second half however, as Bala and Ray were the only Javelinas to make a field goal after halftime. TAMUK scored just four points in the final frame, shooting 1-of-13 from the floor in the fourth quarter. While Kingsville's defense stayed strong down the stretch, forcing 3-of-13 shooting from three by the Rambelles in the fourth, ASU's extra possessions proved too much to overcome.
TAMUK will now look to rebound before another road conference matchup, as the team takes on UT - Permian Basin on Saturday at 1 p.m.
