CORPUS CHRIST, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi came out firing against McMurry this Saturday, scoring the game's first seven points of the night, and taking the final by a count of 62-43.

Sophomore Emma Young recorded the first double-double of her career on the night after registering a career-high 11 boards and tying a career-high with 17 points. Young got her night started scoring three-points the hard way, and finish seven for nine from the charity stripe. After going ahead 7-0 the War Hawks would go on a run in the proceeding seven minutes, to get out in front 10-9. Sophomore Dalesia Booth would close out the first quarter with a pair of buckets however, to give the Islanders a 15-10 lead into the break, as the guard finished her night with 14 and four.

The Blue and Green would take over on the inside during the second term, outscoring the visiting War Hawks 14-2 in the paint for a 30-21 lead at the half. Forward Uri Jolivette pulled down a team-high four rebounds in the opening half as the hosting side caused 10 McMurry turnovers in the first 20 minutes. After forcing Texas Lutheran to turn the ball over 29 times the previous night, the Islanders defense registered 12 steals against the War Hawks, as their total of 26 on the season sits as the highest the team has collected in a two-game stretch since February of the 2015-16 campaign.

"I thought we did a good job on the defensive end tonight." said Head Coach Royce Chadwick during his postgame interview. "...We didn't shoot the ball very well, but when you're not scoring on the offensive end you've got to get down and defend, and that's what we did."

Corpus Christi held the War Hawks to just 32 points after three periods, and dropped 18 in the third quarter alone, with help from a trio of Booth field goals. The Islanders outshot McMurry 39% to 29% during the third quarter, while connecting on seven of eight free throws, to take a 48-32 lead into the final stanza.

The fourth would all come down to the home team's work on the glass, as the Islanders pulled down 17 boards to the War Hawks' seven. Young would pick up five offensive rebounds in the last 10 minutes of Saturday's contest while Booth and freshman Giana Wright retrieved a pair of the Blue and Green's five blocks on the night. 

"I thought in the second half we did a much better job of playing power basketball and getting on the boards." says Coach Chadwick. ".... I think at the half they [McMurry] had 19 rebounds and we had 16, and that shouldn't happen. We should be able to get on the boards better than that, and I thought we did in the second half."

The Islanders closed out Saturday's matchup with a final of 62-43 to bring their point differential to an average of plus-25 on the year. Corpus Christi has shot an impressive .449 from the field over two games to go a perfect 2-0 to start the season, opening the year with back-to-back wins for the first time since 2013.



COMING UP NEXT
The Islanders will be on the road for the next three weeks, playing their proceeding five contests away from the Island, before coming home for a matchup with South Texas Showdown rivals UTRGV on November 29th. Corpus Christi will open the coming stretch of away games against the Vaqueros this Tuesday, hoping to improve on the 3-2 record they hold against UTRGV over the past four years.

"We'll be off tomorrow and then we will go on Monday and travel on Tuesday." says Chadwick. "We'll go down to Rio Grande Valley, come home, and then we hit the road again until the end of the month. So we're about to hit the road, find out how tough the road is, and maybe we'll grow from that."

STAY SOCIAL
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