San Antonio - Despite strong first and fourth quarters, the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team fell, 62-48, to the RV Washburn Ichabods to close out the team's competition at the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic.
In their second game in under 24 hours, the Javelinas outscored Washburn by nine across the first and final frames, but were unable to overcome 23 turnovers and a strong third quarter from the Ichabods.
"We came out extremely flat in the third quarter and never were able to recover," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "You have to be consistent to win college basketball games and score. We will continue to work on our offensive rhythm and timing."
Kingsville started the game with a 15-point first quarter that saw five different players score, led by sophomore forward
Thalia Daniels' five points. The second and third quarters, however, were a struggle for TAMUK, who shot just 4-of-18 from the field and committed 13 turnovers. The team's defense had been keeping them in the game early, holding Washburn below 40% shooting from the field and forcing 14 first-half turnovers, but a 24-point third from the Ichabods allowed them to break the game open.
Though it wasn't enough to complete a comeback, Kingsville's best single-quarter scoring margin came in the fourth, where the team matched its season high scoring with 17 points, including a 10-0 run. Playing back in her hometown, freshman guard
Jade Perez led that late run, scoring all six of her points in the fourth quarter, notching a new career high in her fourth collegiate game.
Alongside Perez, freshmen and new faces led TAMUK up and down the lineup, including first-year forward
Justine Aguilar, who came off the bench to lead the team in scoring with eight points as well as three rebounds. Junior forward
Katy Frost added seven points of her own off the pine, as well as two boards, an assist, and a block. Another freshman, guard
Ava Mitchell, who is also a San Antonio native, made the first start of her collegiate career, putting up five points, four rebounds, an assist, and a pair of steals.
The Javelinas will now return home to open up Lone Star Conference play, where the No.8 Texas Woman's Pioneers (Thursday, 5:30 p.m.) and the UT-Tyler Patriots (Saturday, 1:00 p.m.) await them. Thursday's game will feature the Dead Day Dorm War, where the TAMUK dorm with the highest percentage of students in attendance will win a free pizza party on Friday. Saturday's will be a Deck the SPEC celebration, as the Javelina basketball teams will play their final home games of the calendar year.
