In its home
finale, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team
played with intensity for 40 minutes in a hard-fought battle with
Stephen F. Austin as the Islanders looked to move closer to a spot
in the Southland Conference Tournament but fell just short on
Wednesday night at the American Bank Center, 66-63.
The Islanders
(10-19) entered the contest in a three-way tie with Southeastern
Louisiana and
McNeese State for the seventh seed in next week's Southland
Conference tournament with identical 6-8 marks. Those teams meet in
a key contest Thursday night in Hammond, La. Stephen F. Austin
improved to 8-7 in the league and to 11-16 overall
"The kids
played well tonight," said Islander head coach Robert Robinson. "We
never quit. We just had too many turnovers. We played with
intensity for 40 minutes, but in the end you have to be able to
make plays and we didn't do that down the stretch. You still have
to be able to have stops on defense and make plays on offense to
win and we didn't do that."
A&M-Corpus
Christi trailed by as many as nine points early in the second half
at 37-28, and trailed by eight after a Nikki Carr free throw with
7:55 remaining before rallying. The Islanders scored nine straight
points to take a 53-52 lead. It was their first lead of the second
half after trailing 29-24 at the intermission.
Fast-break
baskets by Adrienne Scott and Shaye Montgomery began the Islander
run. Elisa Beagle, who had eight of her 10 points in the second
half, converted a three-point play with just under six minutes left
to pull the Islanders within one before scoring again on a
second-chance basket to give A&M-Corpus Christi the lead,
53-52, with 5:09 left.
Stephen F.
Austin answered with a 7-0 run to push its lead back to six,
59-53.
After
Antoinette Davis hit a free throw tying the game at 53, Carr, who
had nine of her 17 points in the final five minutes, hit her only
three-point basket of the game to give her team the lead for good.
Jessica Gaines capped the run with a field with 2:43 remaining for
to put the Islanders down 59-53.
A&M-Corpus
Christi freshman Jade Davis, who tied her career-high with 14
points, scored five straight points to pull the Islanders back
within a point. But after Carr, who was 6-of-6 from the line in the
final 120 seconds, hit a pair of free throws with 45 seconds
remaining, Davis' trey with 22 seconds left was off the mark.
Carr extended
the visitors lead back to five with two free throws with 17 second
to go.
Shaye
Montgomery, who led the Islanders with 15 points, hit a three-point
basket with five seconds left to make it a 65-63 contest.
Natashia Green
hit the first of two free throws with under three seconds to go
seemingly sealing the win. Gaines grabbed the ball but was ruled
out of bounds. The horn sounded but after a brief review the
Islanders were rewarded the ball and a last chance with a second
left, but were unable to get a shot off.
In the first
half, Natashia Green almost single-handedly allowed SFA to take a
29-24 lead at the intermission. The reserve scored 14 of her
career-high 24 points in the first 20 minutes on 6-of-8 shooting.
Six of those points came in a three-minute span that helped the
visitors break a 13-13 tie and lead 21-15 with just over five
minutes in the half remaining.
For the game,
the Islanders won the rebounding war, 36-30, as Deziree Green and
Scott each had seven boards, while Beagle added six. Jordan Ford
led the Lady Jacks with nine boards. SFA forced 17 turnovers and had eight
steals while committing just 10 miscues.
A&M-Corpus
Christi shot 41.5% from the floor while SFA was 43.6% from the
floor. The Islanders continued their solid free throw shooting
hitting 14-of-16 from the line, the Ladyjacks were nearly as good
at 15-of-20.
