The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team will
close out a stretch of three games in five days Monday night when
Texas-Pan American comes to the American Bank Center for a 7 p.m.
contest.
The Islanders have won a season-best four straight games to move
over .500 for the first time this season at 8-7 and are one of
three unbeaten teams in the Southland. Texas-Arlington is 4-0 while
both Lamar and A&M-Corpus Christi are 3-0 in the league. UTPA
enters the game at 7-11 matching the same number of wins it a year
ago.
The meeting is the second of the season for the two sides with
the Islanders overcoming a 40-29 deficit to win 51-49 on Dec. 29 in
the Battle at the Border. The win ignited the Islanders current
winning streak. Jillianne Duffey's basket with 19 seconds left
proved to be the difference. MaHogany Daniel had a chance to tie
the game with less than a second left when she went to the foul
line for two attempts, but missed the first free throw. She
intentionally missed the second one but the team was unable to get
another shot off.
LeKeisha Gray leads UTPA in scoring
with 10.0 points a game as well as in (45) and steals (29). Tamara
Vaughn, who was last week's Newcomer of the Week in the UBC, is
averaging 9.9 points a game and Aleeya Grigsby 9.6 points. Daniel
leads the team with 6.1 rebounds a game.
Kirbria Lewis has led the Islanders,
who are playing their final non-conference game of the season,
since entering conference play. Lewis has averaged 18 points the
past three games with seven rebounds and over four steals and
assists a game. Elisa Beagle is close to averaging a double-double
with 12.0 points and 9.7 rebounds over the stretch. Jenesis Shaw,
Nicole Duncan and Duffey are all averaging 11-or-more points since
the start of league play.
The Islanders return to conference
action on Thursday when they visit Texas State at 7 p.m. The team
returns home to the American Bank Center on Saturday for a 7 p.m.
game with Texas-Arlington.
