Hot Shooting Lifts WBB Over Sam Houston State

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Brittany Mbamalu opened Saturday's game at the American Bank Center with back-to-back three points to kick-start an offensive explosion for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team. The Islanders (7-15, 4-7) shot a season-high 50-percent from the field in an 81-71 win over Sam Houston State.

RELATED: Box Score | Box Score PDF | Photos | Video

Coming into Saturday's, the Islanders had dropped their previous two games, while opposing teams were lights out from behind the 3-point line. Against the Bearkats (8-13, 4-7) on Homecoming, A&M-Corpus Christi benefitted from 11-of-21 shooting from deep.

"I think we have players who can knock down open shots," associate head coach Roxanne White said after the game, as a stand in for Royce Chadwick in the post game press conference. "All of our perimeter guards can shoot the three. Today, they understood that they can pass on an open look in order to get a better shot later in the shot clock."

The Islanders opened an 11-4 lead early in the first quarter after the makes from Mbamalu. Kassie Jones, Shay Weaver and Mykayla Flores joined in on the action from long range to drop a season-high 25 points in the first quarter from six 3-pointers.

Despite shooting 53-percent through the first two periods, the Islanders could not ward off a 16-7 Sam Houston State run to close the half, as the hosts went into the break with an eight-point lead. A&M-Corpus Christi's 43 points were the most in a first half dating back to the 53 against Huston-Tillotson on Dec. 30, 2014.

In the second half, the Bearkats managed to chip away at the Islanders' lead, drawing as close as five at the 2:10 mark in the third quarter, before Brittany Mbamalu drained one of her three 3-pointers on the day in the dying seconds of the period.

"I thought our kids did a great job of making adjustments," added White. "We mixed up our zones with a 1-2-2 and a 2-3, then used some man. Our kids did a great job of deciding to be locked in and realize what we were trying to accomplish. Offensively, I thought we did a great job picking the times to be aggressive."

Looking to put the game out of reach, Jennifer Ramirez scored the first six points of the final frame, finishing with 11 of her 16 points in the quarter. 7-of-8 shooting from the free throw line down the stretch sealed the game for the hosts. 

Southland Conference leading scorer Shernise Robertson finished with a game-high 28 points, followed by Angela Beadle's 17. The visitors shot at a 46.2-percent clip in the loss.

WEAVER'S RESURGENCE

After missing six games before the start of conference play, Shay Weaver returned to the lineup against Central Arkansas to deliver an inspired performance with 17 points. The Arlington native struggled through recent games, but bounced back against the Bearkats with 21 points from 5-of-9 shooting from outside. Weaver now sits in sixth in scoring all-time with 13.2 points per game in 45 career games.

FROM LONG RANGE

• With 11 3-pointers on the day, A&M-Corpus Christi matched its season high it set back Jan. 7 against Lamar.
• Weaver, Jones and Mbamalu connected on multiple long balls, which marked the fourth time this season that three Islanders hit at least a pair of 3-pointers.
• The .524 clip from behind the arc was the second highest mark this season, behind the 8-of-14 (.571) shooting against Houston on Dec. 17.

NOTABLE STATS

• Jones (17), Weaver (21), Ramirez (13), Mbamalu (16) and Maddisen Turner (11) finished in double-figure scoring, which is the first time this season a quintet of Islanders reached scored more than 10.  
• The Islanders missed the season high in assists by three on Saturday, posting 17 dimes against the Bearkats, led by Ramirez with six.
• Saturday's game was the final for the Blue and Green at the American Bank Center this season. The Islanders improve 3-1 in last game of the season at the Bank in the Royce Chadwick Era.
• After the Islanders took the lead on a Shay Weaver 3-pointer at the 3:53 mark of the first quarter, they never relinquished the advantage, for its first coast-to-coast victory of the season. 

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Islanders head out for the second longest road trip of the year, starting in New Orleans on Thursday, followed by a game in Nacogdoches against Stephen F. Austin next Saturday.