CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Winning its third consecutive game in the Dugan Wellness Center, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball program withstood an early flurry and regained control to put away Pacific 81-61 on Monday.
Pacific (2-3) was on fire in the first quarter and shot 7-for-11 (.636) from the field and 5-of-6 (.833) from three-point range. Yet, the game was tied 20-20 after the first. The Islanders (3-1) then held the Tigers to a 3-for-13 (.231) mark in the second quarter to build a 10-point halftime lead and extended it in the second half to put it out of reach.
Senior
Makinna Serrata turned in a monster night with a career-high 28 points. She flirted with a double-double with nine rebounds and also dished out four assists.
Another big performance came from junior
Alecia Westbrook. She registered a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds, and also grabbed four steals.
Serrata and Westbrook were two of four A&M-Corpus Christi student-athletes in double-figures. Freshman
Annukka Willstedt submitted 10 points and six rebounds, and sophomore
Paige Allen notched 10 points and five rebounds.
The all-around rebounding effort led to a big 48-27 advantage as a team and a 22-2 edge in second chance points.
The Tigers were led by Jordan Cruz who netted 10 points on 6-of-11 from long- range.
Pacific drilled its first five field goal attempts of the game, including four three-pointers to go up 14-6. Though, the Islanders kept up offensively as the fast pace resulted in opportunities both ways and Serrata converted an old-fashion three-point play to trim the deficit to 17-15. Sophomore
Nabaweeyah McGill tied it 20-20 on a lay-up in the final minute.
Back-to-back threes by Willstedt and Allen gave A&M-Corpus Christi a 30-24 edge at the 5:56 mark of the second. A jumper by Allen and a second chance basket by Westbrook near the end of the half made it a 39-29 game at the intermission.
The Islanders continued to add onto their lead in the third. Free throws by Serrata and Westbrook upped the advantage to 50-34 with 6:53 to go. A lay-in by Allen had the team up 61-41 with 1:32 left.
Pacific never came within striking distance in the second half. The closest it came the rest of the way was 64-50 with 7:04 remaining in the fourth quarter. A&M-Corpus Christi got its lead back up to 20 in the final two minutes of the game after breaking Pacific's press and drawing fouls.
Up next, A&M-Corpus Christi will hit the road for a pair of games. It will travel to Denver at 4:30 p.m. Friday and will remain there Saturday for a 2 p.m. neutral site contest against Tulane.
NOTES
- It was the first-ever meeting between the Islanders and the Tigers. A&M-Corpus Christi is now 3-0 all-time against teams currently in the West Coast Conference after topping Portland 64-63 on Nov. 24, 2003 and St. Mary's 96-79 on Dec. 16, 2006.
- A&M-Corpus Christi's 3-1 record is its best start since 2009-10.
- A&M-Corpus Christi is now 204-144 all-time at home and 50-28 in the Dugan Wellness Center.
- Serrata broke her previous career-high of 20 points against UTRGV to begin the home stand. She was 12-for-14 from the free throw line and her 12 makes were also a career-best. Serrata recorded her 14th career double-figure scoring game.
- Westbrook entered the game leading the league in defensive rebounding (8.7 drpg) and secured 10 in the contest. It was her second consecutive 15-rebound game after doing so against St. Thomas. Westbrook etched her ninth career double-double, 17th career double-figure scoring game and 15th career double-digit rebounding affair.
- Allen garnered her 11th career double-figure scoring games. Her 10 points and four steals were both season-highs.
- Willstedt registered her second consecutive double-figure scoring outing and was coming off a career-high 16 points against St. Thomas. Willstedt hit a pair of three-pointers and her six rebounds were also a career-best.
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