Box Score NATCHITOCHES, La. – Shooting struggles in the first half hindered the efforts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team to snap its nine-game losing streak, as the Islanders (3-12, 0-4) fell to Northwestern State (10-6, 4-1), 60-43, on Wednesday night. Brittany Mbamalu connected on three fourth quarter 3-pointers to lead the Islanders with nine points.
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"We dug ourselves a hole, again, to start the game," head coach Royce Chadwick said after the game. "We couldn't score. We did a pretty good job of trying to keep ourselves in the game with our defense, by holding them to just 60 points; however, we couldn't get enough points to get over the hump.
"I thought our post players did some really good things tonight. We need some contributions from our guards and our older kids. Some of our more experienced players need to step up and do a lot more for us. We have a long way to go, so we need to keep working and getting better."
Points were hard to come by for A&M-Corpus Christi in the first half, shooting 26.1-percent and 0-of-10 from behind the arc. In comparison, Janelle Perez scored 15 of her game-high 20 points through the first two quarters, as the Lady Demons were 5-of-8 from long range and shot 39.8-percent from the field.
The second half produced better offense from the Islanders. Shay Weaver drained back-to-back 3-pointers in the third to cut the lead to 15, but Northwestern State extended the lead to 19 heading into the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, 3-pointers by Mykayla Flores and Brittany Mbamalu sparked an 11-3 run to bring the Islanders within 16, but that would be the closest margin for the rest of the game.
Despite the blue and green cutting their turnovers down to 18 for the game, Northwestern State picked up 24 points on takeaways.
The Islanders outscored an opponent's bench for the ninth time this season by turning in a 27-15 effort over the Lady Demons.
NOTABLE STATS
• With a trio of long balls, Mbamalu tied Jade Davis for third place on the Islanders All-Time list with 130. Through 45 career games, the redshirt sophomore is averaging 2.88 3-pointers per game.
• A pair of Islanders matched career highs against the Lady Demons. Maddisen Turner blocked two shots in the first half, while Gee Lawler tallied seven points and went 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
• Defense kept the Islanders in a spot to where a run would bring them back into the game. Four the sixth time this season, and the first since Texas Southern on Dec. 19, A&M-Corpus Christi held an opponent to six points or less.
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