HAMMOND, La. – Overcoming a 33-0 disparity from behind the arc and an 11-point deficit in the second half, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team rallied to a 69-53 victory on the road at Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday night.
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The Islanders (9-14, 5-8) grabbed 54 rebounds, 23 on the offensive glass, on the night and went 25-36 from the free throw line.
Kassie Jones scored a game-high 17 points with a career-high nine free throws.
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After shooting 28-percent in the first half, the Blue and Green flipped the table by going 41-percent from the field and limiting the Lady Lions (4-19, 2-10) to 25-percent over the final 20 minutes, while doubling up the hosts 44-22 during that stretch.
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"I thought our defense tightened up in the second half," head coach
Royce Chadwick said. "Our game plan was to run them off the 3-point line and not foul them when they drove. We didn't do a very good job of that in the first 20 minutes. We talked to them after they hit a pair of threes in the second half, and they didn't get a 3-pointer the rest of the game.
"Offensively, I thought we attacked the basket looking to get fouled in the first half. In the second half, we went to the basket trying to score, and we went to the line as a product of that. Our mentality changed when we needed it to, and this was a big win for us in February."
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Out of the gates, the Lady Lions could not miss from the perimeter. Eight of the hosts' first nine makes were 3-pointers. Southeastern La. extended its early lead to 12 with two minutes to play in the first half, before Jones cut the lead to six with 48 seconds remaining.
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With 3:33 to play in the third period, Jaclyn Scholvin put the hosts up by eight with 3-pointer, which would be the Lady Lions' final basket in the run of play for 6:54. From that point on, it was all Islanders.
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A&M-Corpus Christi went on a 29-6 run over the next 10 minutes and went 11-16 from the charity stripe. During the stretch, the Islanders held Southeastern La. to 1-of-10 shooting and forced eight turnovers.
Bre Warren knocked down four 3-pointers off the bench to lead the Lady Lions in scoring with 14 points.
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DOING WORK INSIDE THE ARC
>> For the second consecutive game, the Islanders failed to connect on a 3-pointer. It was the first back-to-back stretch without a perimeter make in program history. Wednesday was also the first time since Nov. 23, 2002, against UT-Arlington that the Blue and Green won a game without a 3-pointer.
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Brittany Mbamalu, the Islanders' regular threat from the arc, chipped in six points, despite not scoring from deep for the second straight game.
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FORCING THE FOUL
>> After making just seven free throws in the first half, the Islanders attacked the basket to earn 18 makes at the charity stripe over the final 20 minutes, including 11 in the fourth.
>> The Islanders forced Southeastern Louisiana to commit 33 fouls with six Lady Lions finishing the game with four fouls or more.
>> The 25 freebies set a season high for the Islanders and were the most since Dec. 15, 2014 against Tennessee State.
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NOTABLES
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Dalesia Booth joined Jones in double figures with 12 points.
>> The Islanders scored 21 second-chance points on 23 offensive rebounds and 18 points off 17 turnovers for the Lady Lions.
>> With her second block of the game,
Camesha Davis became the third Islander in history to reach 100 career rejections.
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Emma Young matched her career high with nine rebounds, while Booth missed a double-double by a pair of boards.Â
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WEEK UNTIL WEDNESDAY
The Islanders have the weekend off for the first time since December, before capping a three-game road swing at Incarnate Word next Wednesday.
STAY SOCIAL
For all the latest information surrounding Islanders women's basketball, follow the team on Twitter (@IslandersWBB) and like the team on Facebook (Islanders Women's Basketball).
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- Go Islanders -
