Kingsville - A furious late comeback attempt from the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team fell just short as a potential game-winning shot missed at the buzzer, and the Javelinas lost, 73-71, to the Texas A&M-International Dustdevils on Tuesday night.
Down by seven with 21 seconds left to play, the Javelinas showed off their resilience, hitting big shots and forcing turnovers on their way to earning an at-the-buzzer opportunity to win the game, which fell just short.
"Super proud of our effort down the stretch, and the way we executed and were able to give ourselves a chance," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "I mean, you can't ask for a better look than what we initially had. But just, one of those deals, we've just got to learn to put quarters together. We've got to stay out of foul trouble."
Leaving their fingerprints all over many of those clutch plays were redshirt juniors, guard
Kaycee Groves and forward
Kaylee Howell, who combined for 38 points (both had season high scoring days). Groves put together a Herculean effort, collecting 20 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, (all season highs) two steals, and block, despite playing through foul trouble for much of the second half. Howell added a career-high 18 points, nine of which came in the final frame as TAMUK made its late push.
"Super proud of our team, I thought Kaylee playing with three fouls all the second half played extremely well, Kaycee kind of found her groove a little bit," Madrid said.
Kingsville began the game red hot, firing on all cylinders right from the opening tip to the tune of a 27-point, 10-of-13 shooting first frame. That gave the squad a 12-point lead, which was quickly cut into as the Dustdeveils locked down in the second quarter, holding the Javelinas to just six points and cutting their deficit to five at the break.
"I thought in the first quarter, we stayed within ourselves, we handled the ball, handled the pressure," Madrid said. "I thought the second and third quarters got away from us in terms of turnovers and we let them speed us up."
Though they were quiet until the fourth, the Javelinas woke up in a big way with their backs against the wall, scoring 25 in the final frame, 14 of which were either scored or assisted by Groves, whose pullup three in transition with 10 seconds left pulled Kingsville with two, 73-71, which eventually became the final score.
Sophomore guard
Addisyn Parker added 12 points, seven rebounds, three, and a steal. Sophomore forward
Thalia Daniels finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds, as well as four assists and a steal.
Kingsville will have another crack at the Dustdevils, hoping to tie the season series when the two squads face off on Saturday afternoon in Laredo.
