Frisco - Despite a phenomenal run in the third quarter, the Texas A&M - Kingsville women's basketball team fell short of No.11 Lubbock Christian, 67-54, in the Lone Star Conference Semifinals on Saturday.
The Javelinas' time playing in the Comerica Center in Frisco was historic, as the team made the Tournament Semis for the first time since 2016-17. While they held a lead multiple times in the third and tied it up early in the fourth, eleven straight possessions without a basket in the final frame led to the Chaparrals' win.
"I thought in the first quarter we had a lot of really good looks around the basket that we didn't necessarily finish," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "They're such a good team, they're going to score, that's what we talked about, you have to score to beat them."
Junior forward
Shelby Ray led the team with 17 points, her third straight game with at least 15 points to close the season. Right behind her was freshman
Jordyn Hernandez, who had a fantastic game just when the team needed it. She recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, both career-highs. She also added an assist, a block, and a steal to round out a stellar performance. The third and final Javelina in double figures was senior guard
Abby Bala, who put up 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go along with three assists, two steals, and a rebound in her final game of collegiate basketball.Â
Along with Bala, the game also marked the end of forwards
Janessa Payne and
Veyda Lake's collegiate careers. Both Payne and Lake spent all five years of their careers playing in the blue and gold. Lake's 67.4% field goal percentage this year smashed her own program record - she has three seasons in the top 10 in program history. Payne's career three-point percentage of 40.4 is the best ever by a Javelina, and her 199 career made threes are the third-most ever.
"I talked about this yesterday a little bit, my first year we won four games and these two committed to us and they came and helped us in a lot of ways, and I just love them," Madrid said. "They have helped this program turn the corner. We're going to miss them."
Much like when these two teams met in Kingsville during the regular season, the Chaps started the game red hot, scoring the game's first seven points and finishing the first quarter with a 20-9 lead. While Lubbock continued to shoot the ball well in the second frame, the Javelinas began to cook. Hernandez scored 10 in the quarter, scoring from all over the court and pulling Kingsville to within nine at the half.
TAMUK's momentum just kept on rolling into the second half. The team came out of the halftime locker room on a 12-2 tear, with Bala, Ray, and junior guard
Aina Maynou each scoring four on the run. The game then became a back-and-forth battle, as the Javelinas answered every Chap bucket with one of their own. That is, until the final frame, when Kinsville was unable to score a field goal for 8:24 of gametime, which allowed LCU to pull away late and earn a spot in the LSC Tournament Championship.
The 2024-25 Javelina women's basketball team finished with an 18-12 record overall with a 13-9 record in Lone Star Conference play.
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