DENVER – Going up against a team that has a pair of Power Five wins on its resume, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball program stood its ground in an 81-71 decision against Tulane on Saturday at Hamilton Gymnasium.
A&M-Corpus Christi (3-3) was tied at the intermission with a Tulane (6-1) squad that has wins this year over Alabama, TCU, Wyoming, South Alabama and Southeastern.
Freshman
Annukka Willstedt put forth an enormous outing with a career-high 25 points and six rebounds. She was 9-of-13 from the floor and 7-of-8 from beyond-the-arc.
Willstedt was one of three Islanders in double-figures along with junior
Alecia Westbrook with 14 points and eight rebounds and sophomore
Violeta Verano with 11 points.
Tulane was 19-of-20 from the free throw line and garnered a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds from Moon Ursin.
The Islanders got off to a hot start after Willstedt knocked down back-to-back threes to give them an early 8-2 lead. Though, the Green Wave came storming back with a 12-0 run to go up 14-8 at the 3:55 mark. A&M-Corpus Christi trailed 16-13 at the end of the first after senior
Makinna Serrata hit a jumper.
After it appeared Tulane was pulling away with a 35-24 advantage in the second, the Islanders responded with a pair of threes from Willstedt and a long-range shot from sophomore
Paige Allen to cut it to 35-33. Willstedt completed an 11-0 run with a lay-up in the closing seconds to even it at the half.
A&M-Corpus Christi went up 40-37 early in the third after Westbrook hit a three. It was a back-and-forth quarter until the end when the Green Wave broke a 47-47 tie with a 6-0 run to go in front 53-47 heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, Tulane used an early spurt to go up 68-56 and take control. The Islanders got it down to single-figures at 73-64 after a pair of free throws by Serrata with 2:43 left, but Tulane was able to hold them off in the end.
After the game, Westbrook was named to the All-Tournament Team.
A&M-Corpus Christi will have over a week off from competition before returning home to host St. Edward's on Sunday, Dec. 5 at 2 p.m. in the Dugan Wellness Center. The Islanders are 3-0 at home this year.
NOTES
- The Islanders pulled down 19 offensive rebounds and outscored the Green Wave 21-13 in second chance points.
- Willstedt tallied her fourth consecutive double-figure scoring game and topped her previous career-high of 16 points against St. Thomas. Her six rebounds matched a career-high. Willstedt was one three-pointer shy of the school record of eight made in a single game by Brittany Mbamalu against UTRGV on Nov. 14, 2017.
- Westbrook notched her fourth double-digit scoring performance in a row and 19th of her career. She was 6-of-14 from the field. With three steals in the game, Westbrook has grabbed 10 in the last three contests.
- Verano's 11 points marked a career-high. Her previous best was seven against UTRGV on Nov. 14. Verano was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
- A&M-Corpus Christi entered the game leading the league in assist:turnover ratio and was even in the game with 13 assists and 13 turnovers, which will improve the team's average.
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