Kingsville - The Texas A&M - Kingsville women's basketball team fell in a battle with the No.2 Texas Woman's Pioneers, 66-48.
The team gave up 38 points in the paint, snapping what had been a four-game win streak, the longest in conference for the team since 2023. Kingsville drops to 10-6 overall and holds a 6-4 record in conference play. The team has won three of its five home games so far this year.
"There's a reason they lost in the national championship game," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "They have seniors, they understand how to win games, they understand how to defend. I thought we were very, very timid in the first half - I thought we got some good looks, but we just didn't have the energy level that we've had the last couple of days."
Despite a slow start offensively, Kingsville forced its way back into the ballgame early in the second quarter. The team whittled its deficit to three multiple times in the second, but a late 12-0 from TWU gave the visitors a big halftime lead.
The Javelinas stayed poised in spite of their deficit, as the team's offense came alive after halftime, shooting 64% from the field in the third. They cut the difference to 11 points, and scoring 19 in the frame - their highest scoring quarter of the day - but the Pioneers did enough to keep their hosts at bay, matching TAMUK with 19 in the quarter and responding to Kingsville's runs.
Two players scored in double figures for Kingsville, junior forward
Shelby Ray and junior guard
Aina Maynou. Ray led the team in scoring with 15 points off the bench. She knocked in three threes, and added four rebounds, an assist and a steal. Maynou collected 10 points, three boards, an assist and a steal.
As always, the Javelinas will have a quick turnaround before their Saturday matchup with a tough Lone Star Conference foe. This time, however, they will have to prepare for another ranked opponent.
"Tyler is extremely good," Madrid said. "They're big, they're long, they're just as good defensively as TWU. So, as much as we didn't execute anything offensively today against a really good defensive team, we're going to face the same type of thing on Saturday, but their players are much longer than TWU's guards are. We'll have our hands full, but we'll watch some film tonight, we'll prep, and we'll have a really good day at practice tomorrow and we'll get ready to go on Saturday."
UT-Tyler brings a No.10/13 ranking into Saturday's bout with TAMUK, which will tip off at 1 p.m..
