Kingsville - Coming off of a late loss Thursday night in San Angelo, the Kingsville women's basketball team readies for a rebound when they face the Falcons of UT - Permian Basin in a Saturday-afternoon matchup.

TAMUK fell, 58-53, to Angelo State in its second Lone Star Conference game of the season. The team, who now holds a 5-3 overall record, will look to get back in the win column against the 4-3 (2-0) Falcons. 

"As in any game, we need to focus on taking quality shots and valuing every possession offensively and defensively," Head Coach Michael Madrid said.

UTPB has dropped just one game at home so far this season, falling by three to Colorado Mesa almost a month ago, and holds a stellar 4-1 record in the Falcon Dome. 

Powering the team is its stellar fifth-year guard, Taysha Rushton. Rushton ranks top five in the conference in points and steals and top three in assists. She's been a one-woman wrecking crew for the Falcons, as seven games into the season she's already scored 18 or more points four separate times. Alongside her, junior guard Makala Bingley made her season debut in Thursday's win over Texas A&M - International, scoring 20 points on five made triples and grabbing seven boards.

As a team, UTPB averages 16.0 assists per game, tied for the 39-th most in the country. It is also great at creating extra possessions for its offense, as it is tied for 38th in the country in forced turnovers and is third in the LSC in offensive rebounds. Kingsville will have its work cut out for it, coming off of a matchup with Angelo St. where the Javelinas won the rebound battle, but gave up 17 offensive rebounds to the Rams.

"We need better effort on the glass," Madrid said. "We haven't done a good job of making contact and attacking the ball."

Though the ASU game saw TAMUK struggle to score in the fourth quarter, and ultimately lose, a number of Javelinas had solid individual performances.

Leading the team in scoring was senior guard Abby Bala, who scored a season-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Junior forward Shelby Ray was a force inside, adding 12 points along with seven rebounds and a pair of blocks.

It was junior forward Alyssa O'Malley, however, who had a career night. She dropped a career-high 13-points that saw her shoot 5-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-5 from distance. She also added seven rebounds, two assists, and a steal. 

"Alyssa puts in a lot of work and it was awesome to see her play with confidence in San Angelo," Madrid said. 

As a team, despite the slew of extra possessions allowed to the Rams, Kingsville' defense shined once again. The Javelinas force opponents to shoot 35.5% from the floor, the 44th-best mark in the nation. Even more impressive has been the team's scoring defense. Highlighted by a Thanksgiving-weekend matchup where they held the Shippensburg Raiders to 38 points, TAMUK holds opponents to an average of 52.7 points per game, the 22nd-fewest in the country.

"We have done a solid job of contesting shots," Madrid said. "Teams are going to get shots, it's college basketball. Our focus is to force rough, contested shots and we have been fortunate to do that."

The Javelinas' face-off with the Falcons tips off at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and will be the team's final road game of the calendar year.