Denton - Texas A&M - Kingsville women's basketball team lost a dogfight, 61-52, with the No.2-ranked team in the nation, the Texas Woman's Pioneers, on Saturday.

Right out of the game, the Javelinas battled with the Pioneers, jumping out to a quick 5-3 edge, and holding the lead for more than 20 minutes of gametime, but ultimately the Pioneers, behind a strong third quarter and good defense down the stretch, secured the win.

"I thought we played well for the most part and executed the things we wanted to execute," Head Coach Michael Madrid said. "Twenty turnovers, putting them to the line 17 times, and giving up 12 offensive rebounds is what hurt us at the end of the day."

Those extra opportunities turned into 20 points off of turnovers and 11 second-chance points, which were big late in the game. 

Despite the loss, redshirt sophomore forward Kaycee Groves torched the Pioneers for a career-high 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, while adding eight rebounds, an assist, and two steals. Senior forward Veyda Lake added eight points on 3-of-5 shooting, and freshman forward Jordyn Hernandez had six on 3-of-6 off the bench. 

The Javelinas were red hot from the opening tip, shooting 7-of-11 from the field in the first quarter, led by Groves, who had nine of the team's 16 points in the frame. TAMUK out-scored TWU by three in the first, only to be out-scored by three in the second, leaving the game tied at 32 at halftime. The team still stayed hot in the second, however, shooting 55.6% from the field in the quarter.

The third frame, however, was when the game changed. TWU turned up their patented defense, holding Kingsville to eight points on 4-of-12 shooting in the quarter. The Javelinas wouldn't let the game go easily, though, as they cut their deficit to four and six on two separate occasions early in the fourth. They made multiple stops in a row in the middle of the fourth, but, with both defenses rising up with the game hanging in the balance, neither team scored a point for more than 2:30 of gametime, with back-to-back buckets from the Pioneers breaking that scoreless streak ane icing the game.

The team is now 15-10 on the season with an 11-8 record in Lone Star Conference play. It sits in seventh place in the conference with three games left to play, all of which are at home. The first of those three comes on Thursday when the Javelinas face off against Midwestern State on Throwback Night at 5:30 p.m..

"We got fortunate to play our last three at home against quality opponents," Madrid said. "We always have room to grow as a team and hopefully this next week we can grow and get better."
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