CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A strong first quarter by the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team was not enough to top one of the best teams in the Southland Conference on Wednesday night, as the Islanders dropped the final game of their two-game homestand to Abilene Christian 72-59.
The Islanders (8-13, 4-6) held the Wildcats (14-7, 8-1) to just eight points in the opening frame, but the visitors used nine 3-pointers and a 55-percent shooting clip over the final three quarters to seal the win.
"I think games are won and lost in the first five minutes of the second half," head coach
Royce Chadwick said. "You have to come out and set the tone of what you hope to accomplish. I thought we got good shots, we just didn't hit any of them, and then they got that low post game going in the second half and I thought that was the difference.
"Their low post players were very good. They shot 50% from the floor, we have to play better defense and shove them off their spot and double down."
A&M-Corpus Christi opened the contest on a roll, going 8-for-18 and outrebounding ACU 14-4 in the first 10 minutes. Six of the Islanders' rebounds came on the offensive end resulting in eight points.
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Ashanti Plummer,
Camesha Davis and
Dalesia Booth on the glass, the Islanders finished with 39 rebounds to 32 for ACU, but 15 offensive rebounds for the Blue and Green produced just 14 points.
The Wildcats edged the hosts in the paint 28-24, while shooting 50-percent from the floor, as both teams played a relatively clean game with 21 combined turnovers.
NOTABLES
>> Plummer picked up her first double-double of the season with matching 10 points and 10 rebounds. Her last double-digit rebound game came against the Wildcats on March 7, 2015.
>>
Kassie Jones scored a team-high 18 points for her second consecutive game in double figures.
>> With her solo block, Davis is now two rejections from reaching the century mark for her career.
SUPER SATURDAY
A&M-Corpus Christi travels up to Houston Baptist on Saturday to face the Huskies at 3:30 p.m. The game will have an audio broadcast on the Islanders Digital Network.
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- Go Islanders -
