On Saturday night at the American Bank Center, the Islander
women's basketball program did something it had never done before,
beat a Southeastern Conference opponent. TAMUCC beat the Alabama
Crimson Tide by a 96-90 final in overtime to improve to 2-0 on the
season.
Alabama drops to 1-1 on the year. It is just the fourth win
over a BCS conference opponent for the Islanders with two wins
against West Virginia and one against Indiana before the win on
Saturday night.
In the first half of the game, it looked bleak when Alabama
opened the game up 5-0 and built a 16-5 lead just six minutes into
the half. Jade Davis hit a
three-pointer at the 13:18 mark to cut it to 16-8 and get back
within single digits. The Tide would extend to lead to as many as
15 points at the 6:34 mark in the half after a jumper by LaToya
King. Despite getting the lead down to nine points multiple times,
the Islanders would go into the half down by 13 points.
At the half, Alabama had been called for 14 personal fouls while
TAMUCC was charged with 13 in the first period.
"The officiating was really tight the first half, losing Elisa
Beagle the first two minutes and then losing Shaye
Montgomery and Myeisha Myles all around the
same time put us in a deep hole," said head coach Robert
Robinson. "The kids stuck with it, we were only down 13 at half
and the kids battled to keep us in a position to win the game in
the second half.
"We challenged them at halftime to keep attacking on the
offensive end if they were going to keep calling it that
tight."
In the second half, Montgomery hit a three-pointer at 18:26 to
start a 13-3 run to make it 57-54 Alabama and cut the lead to just
three points. After a made shot by Alabama, Davis hit a three to
cut the lead to two points and Adrienne Scott hit a jumper
to tie the game at 61-61 with 13:10 left. Davis followed up with
another layup to give the Islanders a 63-61 lead, their first of
the night.
"We were able to get some stops and some points in transition
that got us going in the second half," said Robinson. "They were
having a hard time guarding Jade one-on-one so we isolated her and
had her run a lot of point guard and come off screen rolls.
"That was really beneficial to her because they were either
going to foul her or she was going to go by them and score."
A layup by Beagle and a made free throw by Myles extended the
lead to five points at 11:20 before Alabama made a run of their
own. Alyson Butler hit a three-pointer and King made a layup for
Alabama to even the score at 66-66 at the 10:35 mark. It was the
start of an 11-0 run over a span of four minutes to give the Tide a
72-66 lead with 7:11 left in the second half.
Alabama led by seven points at 82-75 with 2:53 left before the
Islanders turned up the intensity and began their final push. Deziree
Green started the comeback with layup and was followed by a
pair of free throws by Scott to cut the deficit to 82-79 with 1:38
left. After a single made free throw by Alabama, Beagle put in a
shot to make it 83-81 in favor of the tide with under a minute to
play. That set up perhaps the biggest play of the night for the
Islanders with Green in the starring role.
After the Tide inbounded the ball, Green stripped the ball from
Dedrea Green and took the ball to the rim and hit a layup to tie
the game at 83-83 with 55 second left in the period. Neither team
was able to score before the final buzzer to set up overtime.
"That was a huge play for us, the crowd definitely got into the
game at that point," said Robinson. "We stepped up our defensive
intensity and got stops when we had to.
We clamped down on them and that is what got us back."
In overtime, the Islanders scored the first point on a made free
throw by Green before a layup by Alabama's King gave the Tide a
brief 85-84 lead. A pair of free throws by Scott gave the
Islanders the lead again before Davis hit two layups and a free
throw to make it 91-85 and give the Islanders a six point lead with
2:13 left in the game. The teams traded points the rest of the way
with a pair of Myles free throws sealing it at a 96-90 final.
"This was a huge win for us, the kids stayed with it and really
earned the win," said Robinson. "It's always big when you beat an
SEC team."
Davis led all scorers in the game with 29 points and was named
the tournament MVP. Scott had 16 and Green added 12 as the other
Islanders in double digits. Others scorers were Montgomery with
nine, Myles with eight, Beagle with six, Lauren Smith with four,
Ashley
Darley with three and Anitra
Jeffery with two points. Beagle added 11 rebounds to lead the
team. Montgomery added nine, Myles had eight and Green pulled down
seven as the other top rebounders for the Islanders.
TAMUCC out rebounded Alabama by a 52-51 margin after trailing by
a 24-15 margin at the half. Alabama was held to just 18% from the
three-point line by the Islanders, finishing just 3-17 from behind
the arc while AMCC was 8-15 from long range.
The all-tournament team consisted of Tacarra Hayes of Tennessee
Tech, Raimee Beck of Air Force, Tierney Jenkins and LaToya King of
Alabama and Deziree Green of TAMUCC. The
MVP of the tournament also came from the Islanders as Jade
Davis took home the hardware after her 29-point
performance.
The Islanders have a week off before the travel to Houston for
their first road game against Texas Southern. The two teams will
play on Saturday, Nov. 21 with a 2 PM start.
