Box Score CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team dropped to 3-9 on the season, 0-1 in conference play, after falling to Central Arkansas, 66-55, at the American Bank Center on Tuesday night in the Southland Conference opener for the Islanders.
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Aside from the absence of Ashanti Plummer and Jaiton Wall, who will miss this year due to injury, A&M-Corpus Christi played with a full bench for the first time since the opening weekend of the season.
Shay Weaver made her return to the lineup after missing the previous five games. The Arlington native finished with a game-high 17 points and three rebounds in 23 minutes of action.
After Jennifer Ramirez and Mykayla Flores struggled through foul trouble and turnovers in the first half, head coach Royce Chadwick placed junior Kassie Jones at the point in the third quarter, as the Islanders battled back from a 37-21 deficit at the half.
Jones proved the much-needed spark for the Islanders in tandem with Weaver. The junior matched Weaver with 17 points and three rebounds from 8-of-11 shooting, while adding three assists.
Shola Adebayo set a new season-high in steals with five, as A&M-Corpus Christi matched its best effort of the year with 12 takeaways.
"I was proud of how Shay was able to come out and play after missing a lot of time," Chadwick said after the game. "Kassie did a great job running the point for us. Shola played some great defense and Kre'Ana did a fantastic job on the glass for us. We were able to put our team together there at the end."
A FOURTH QUARTER RUN
A&M-Corpus Christi trailed by 16 at the start of the fourth quarter. Kre'Ana Henry, Jones and Weaver combined for every point in a 15-4 run for the blue and green that cut the lead to five with 1:56 remaining. However, Central Arkansas pulled away in the final minutes behind an 8-2 run to finish the game.
THE TROUBLE
The Sugar Bears, led by 17 points from Brianna Mullins, outrebounded the blue and green, 31-28. Henry set a new career-high with 10 boards, but the next highest number for the Islanders was Adebayo with four.
Turnovers were an issue for the Islanders, as they committed 19. Brittany Mbamalu, who was held scoreless for the first time all season, gave up possession a team-high four times.
Foul trouble hindered A&M-Corpus Christi, particularly in the second half. Central Arkansas got to the line 17 times in the final two quarters, finishing 18-of-23, compared to the Islanders going 6-of-11 from the line.
"I thought the group we had in the second half played with a lot of heart," added Chadwick. "The group in the first half made some careless turnovers and committed way too many fouls. We gave them 23 free throws and only shot 11 ourselves and we cannot do that."
WHAT'S NEXT
The Islanders head out on a three-game road swing, starting at Lamar on Thursday. The Cardinals are 5-8 overall and 1-1 in Southland Conference play, with a loss to Nicholls and a win against New Orleans.
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