Kingsville - With a season-high single-game scoring performance from the Texas A&M - Kingsville women's basketball team, the Javelinas took down the Dustdevils from Texas A&M - International, 82-63 in the final game of their regular season, securing their sixth spot in next week's Lone Star Conference tournament.
In her final game in the SPEC, senior guard
Abby Bala led the team with a career-high 20 points, while stuffing the stat sheet with five assists, four rebounds, and four steals. Junior forward
Shelby Ray wasn't far behind with 18 points and six rebounds in a game where Kingsville, as a team, shot above 51% from the field and scored at least 18 in every quarter.
"We came out and played with a lot of energy early on, jumped on them pretty early," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "Then kind of toward the end, I thought we got a little goofy, kind of stopped playing defense, kind of stopped blocking out, so those things can be expected, but I would want us to focus a little bit more down the stretch and finish things out."
After a tight first frame, TAMUK outscored TAMIU 26-8 in the second, jumping out to a 23-point halftime lead and putting the Dustdevils in the rearview. The win marks Kingsville's 17th of the season and its 13th in LSC play, enough for the No.6 seed in the conference tournament and a date with UT-Tyler on Thursday at noon. The Javelinas entered the day with the opportunity to finish as high as the five seed, but an Angelo State win gave the Rambelles the No.5 seed, and set TAMUK up for a matchup with the top-five ranked Patriots.
"We talk all the time about 'we want to play in March,' and they've played their way into that," Madrid said. "I think we were preseason ranked eighth, and for this group to finish sixth losing Logan early, had lost another player early, I think it speaks volumes for the work that they put in. I'm just excited to see what happens next week."
Bala wasn't the only graduating Javelina season to leave the SPEC on a high note. Forward
Veyda Lake had nine points on 3-of-5 shooting along with four rebounds and two assists, while her frontcourt mate
Janessa Payne had eight points, six assists, three rebounds, and two steals. The three of them have now played their final regular season game in the blue and gold.
"Janessa and Veyda have been with us for five years, they committed to us after my first year when we won four games," Madrid said. "So those players committed to us and our vision and what we want to do, and for them to see the growth of this program the last five years that they've been here has been huge. Abby obviously transferred in and has added value to use as well, so just proud of them."
Though an injury prevented her from finishing the game, redshirt sophomore forward
Kaycee Groves also scored in double figures with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting as well as five rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. She was one of five different Javelinas to bring down at least four boards in the win.
TAMUK will now look ahead to its matchup in Friso at the Comerica Center and an opportunity to play in March and avenge two regular season losses to UTT.
