Kingsville - The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball stayed unbeaten in the new year with its second straight win, beating Oklahoma Christian, 65-61, behind a career game from freshman guard Jadeyn Perez and an excellent team shooting day.
In the second start of her collegiate career, Perez scored in double figures for the second straight game as she went off for a new career high in both points and assists with 24 and three respectively. The Javelinas shot at or above 50% from the field in each quarter, and 58.5% on the game overall. The win bumps Kingsville up to 2-3 in Lone Star Conference play.
"Always good to win, always good to win," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "Credit to our players, I thought we played well in the first quarter, got a lead. Second quarter, we kind of got manhandled a little bit, gave up a lot of free throws, had some turnovers, weren't really doing anything offensively. Third quarter, I thought we were a lot better, and then obviously fourth quarter, we were able to finish it, so super proud of their effort."
Redshirt junior guard
Kaycee Groves joined Perez in double figures with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, coming up with a number of big plays down the stretch as the Javelinas secured their win. She rounded out a strong game with a game-high four steals, four assists (team high), and three rebounds.
The game began with a hot start for Kingsville, fueled by a personal 7-0 run from Groves and a defensive effort that held the Eagles to just eight shot attempts in the frame (3-of-8). Before halftime, however, OC began to impose its will on the game, slowing down the pace of play and drawing numerous fouls. The team shot 14 free throws (11-of-14) in the second frame, nearly as many as TAMUK shot all game (16). The Eagles used the charity stripe to work their way back into the game, taking a six-point lead into the halftime lockerroom.
Kingsville responded in a big way out of the break, though, out-scoring OC by 12 in the third. Eleven of the Javelinas' 23 points in the quarter came from Perez, matching the Eagles' team scoring total in the frame.Â
"I just saw that the drive wasn't working for me in the beginning, and I needed to stop forcing, and what was open was the three," Perez said. "I've been shooting pretty good in practice, so I felt pretty confident. After I came down the court on fast breaks the first two were off, I knew it was barbeque chicken."
From there, TAMUK did just enough to close out the game in the fourth, despite a late run from the visitors. As the game got close late, the team turned to Groves who, among a number of other Javelinas, dealt with foul trouble throughout the contest. She came up huge, scoring the team's final six points, and forced a late turnover to help give the team its second straight win.
TAMUK now heads into a week where it plays just one game - a road trip up north to take on LSC newcomer University of Texas - Dallas at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
