Box Score CORPUS CHRISTI - It wasn't a perfect game, but the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's
basketball team found a way to win as it bested Southland Conference foe Lamar, 56-51, Thursday night at the American Bank Center. The Islanders improve to 5-8 on the year and 1-1 in league play. The win marks the first time the Islanders have defeated Lamar in six tries, dating back to the 2008-09 season.
"No. 1, we went to the free-throw line and made the free ones. We didn't do that in our last game, and No. 2, we kept our poise when things didn't seem to be going our direction," said head coach Royce Chadwick. "We did get down, but we kept our poise, we stayed in it, and we kept fighting.
"I think we're growing as a team. Hopefully we can stop getting down and having to test our poise, but we did the things that we had to do down the stretch to win the basketball game."
Sophomore Kassie Jones tied a career high with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting including four 3-pointers on the night.
Jones was the first-half catalyst, helping the Islanders to a 28-26 lead heading into the locker room. The Lufkin, Texas product scored 11 points in the opening period, and was the only bench player to score for the home team. Arlington, Texas native Shay Weaver put in seven first-half points including three rebounds.
A&M-Corpus Christi was able to jump out to a five-point lead in the opening minutes thanks to Weaver and Jones each connecting on shots from behind the arc. Lamar was able to get back into the contest via the offensive glass. LU scored seven second-chance points while the Islanders were unable to capitalize on any of their seven offensive rebounds in the period. Dominique Edwards led the Lady Cardinals (5-8, 2-1 SLC) with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting.
Jennifer Ramirez hit a layup at the 18:30 mark of the second half to put the Islanders up four points at 32-28 but Lamar answered without hesitation. The Lady Cardinals scored the next 12 points over a five-minute period to go up a game-high eight points, taking a 40-32 lead.
Sophomore Camesha Davis was able to break the scoreless streak for the Islanders after hitting a layup with 13:10 remaining. The team showed great resilience, fighting back from an eight-point deficit to eventually take the lead on an Olivia Fouty layup at 43-42 with 7:16 left in the game. The Islanders were able to hold Lamar scoreless during the five-minute period, forcing the Lady Cardinals several tough shots and four turnovers.
The Islanders were up by six points with 2:17 remaining in the game, before LU's Jameisha Edwards stole the ball and found an open Baileigh O'dell for a trey to close the gap to just three points. Lamar had two opportunities to close the gap but to no avail. Weaver closed the game out for the Islanders at the free-throw line, putting the team up 56-51 to end the game.
Fouty and Weaver scored 11 points each in the game as the Islanders had three double-digit scorers. Fouty recorded her sixth double-double of the year as she pulled down 13 rebounds, while Weaver corralled six, respectively.
The Islanders bounced back from their tough shooting performace at Central Arkansas to go 13-of-16 (81.3) from the charity stripe against Lamar.
A&M-Corpus Christi shot 19-of-48 (39.6) from the field compared the LU's 19-62 (30.6). The Lady Cardinals collected 18 offensive rebounds in the game, which they were able to turn into 11 second-chance points.
Turnovers plagued the team, as they have a majority of the year. The Islanders turned the ball over 28 times, which led to 26 points off of the miscues. Lamar had trouble holding onto the ball as well, turning it over 21 times, leading to 21 Islanders points.
The Islanders will continue Southland Conference play Saturday when they host McNeese St. The game will be played at the Dugan Wellness Center and is scheduled to tip at 4:30 p.m.
For the latest team information, like the team on Facebook (Islanders Women's Basketball), and follow the Islanders on Twitter and Instagram (@IslandersWBB).
