San Angelo - The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team overcame a slow start to battle with Angelo St. in San Angelo, ultimately falling just short, 48-46, in the first half of a home-and-home with the Rambelles on Wednesday night.
Though they struggled shooting the ball and turnovers proved costly, the Javelinas leaned on their defense, dragging ASU down into a dogfight. Within reach of Angelo for much of the matchup, TAMUK made a late push, pulling within one possession in the game's final moment, before taking its third loss of the new year, falling to 3-3 in 2026.
"We didn't start well offensively and gave Angelo a boost," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "I don't know why we didn't play well. Multiple turnover, poor execution. We settled in a little the last three quarters and again had costly turnovers."
On a night when the ball simply would not fall for Kingsville, the team's offense was done by committee, with sophomore
Thalia Daniels leading the way, dropping nine points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Redshirt junior forward
Kaylee Howell and sophomore guard
Addisyn Parker weren't far behind with eight points a piece. Parker added three assists and a career-high 13 rebounds, finishing just two points shy of what would have been the first double-double of her career.
After an ice-cold start through the game's first 12 minutes, the Javelinas responded in a big way. The team put together a 9-0 run that featured buckets from three different player to pull itself within four points. After another cold stretch six straight points - three from Parker and three from freshman guard
Ava Mitchell - to close out the first half gave TAMUK new life heading into the halftime locker room.
Again in the third quarter, the Javelinas' offense struggled, shooting 4-of-15 from the field, but once again their grid defensively kept them in the game. That trend continued into the fourth quarter, where Kingsville continued to engineer opportunities for its offense with strong play on the defensive end.
"Defensively, we lost some shooters and didn't do a good job on some assignments, but to play the way we did and still have a chance down the stretch says a lot about our growth," Madrid said.
Overall in the game, TAMUK held the Rambelles to just 28.6% shooting from the field and 23.1% from beyond the long line, teeing up its offense for a late run. As the game got close, Kingsville clamped up, holding Angelo to just two points in the final 5:28 of game time, including a stretch that lasted an astonishing 4:32 in which it held the Rambelles scoreless. Despite a 7-2 run in that stretch, including a late triple from Mitchell that pulled the team to within two, the team fell just short of a second straight road win.
The Javelinas will now look ahead to a return to Kingsville on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. for Military Day, where they will once again take on the Rambelles in a weighty Lone Star Conference clash.
"Be consistent," Madrid said. "Show up. That will be the message leading into our next game."
